Heat host Pacers, look to home-court advantage to rise in standings

So far this season, no team in the NBA has played fewer home games than the Miami Heat.However, over the final 25 games, the Heat will be home for 17 of them, including Friday night when they are set to host the Indiana Pacers.”It felt like we haven’t played here in forever,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after Miami beat the visiting Atlanta Hawks 131-109 on Wednesday.”But it’s set up for a really fun March. None of it is guaranteed just because we’re home, but it could be a lot of fun.”If the season ended now, the Pacers would be in the playoffs as the fourth seed from the Eastern Conference. The Heat sit in eighth place — good for a play-in game — and five games out of the final guaranteed playoff position behind the surprising Detroit Pistons.Spoelstra cautioned that the Heat — just 13-11 at home this season — can’t be too eager to make up the lost ground.”We can’t get all these wins in one night,” Spoelstra said.It helps, though, that the Heat have a tough-minded center in Bam Adebayo, who averages 16.9 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. He played Wednesday against the Hawks despite calf and back injuries and scored 20 points and pulled down nine rebounds.”Bam was banged up, but it shows how much he wants this,” Spoelstra said. “He was a force of nature with his physicality, effort, voice, spirit — all of that.”There are a lot of guys who would’ve sat out with the back (injury) or the calf, but we felt this was a must-win (game).”The game against the Pacers is big, too, and Heat guard Davion Mitchell is excited. On Wednesday, he played perhaps his best game in his brief tenure with the Heat, scoring 20 points.”It’s super important,” Mitchell said when asked about the Pacers game. “We will need the fans. We need everyone’s support.”Mitchell shares the backcourt with Tyler Herro, who leads the Heat in scoring (24 points) and assists (5.7).Meanwhile, the Pacers are coming in off a home win on Wednesday, beating the Toronto Raptors 111-91.