Antetokounmpo's triple-double powers Heat past short-handed Pacers in NBA Cup opener

Giannis Antetokounmpo recorded his second triple-double of the season, and the Miami Heat opened their Emirates NBA Cup group-play schedule with a 145-125 win over a short-handed Indiana Pacers team on Friday night at Kaseya Center in Miami. The victory, Miami's second in a row, moved the Heat to 2-4 on the young season as they continue adjusting to life with Antetokounmpo at the center of the roster.

Antetokounmpo finished with 31 points, 18 rebounds and 10 assists in just 31 minutes, shooting 13 of 19 from the field, according to the official NBA box score. Bam Adebayo added 27 points on 11-of-14 shooting, and Klay Thompson had his best scoring night since joining the Heat, finishing with 25 points on 7-of-12 shooting from beyond the arc. Davion Mitchell contributed 15 points and 11 assists, and Pelle Larsson scored 18 off the bench. Miami outscored Indiana 67-46 across the second and third quarters to turn a tight opening period into a rout, per the game's Associated Press recap.

For Indiana, Quenton Jackson scored 24 points and Andrew Nembhard added 22 with nine assists. Jarace Walker had 14 points and Pascal Siakam and Jay Huff each scored 13. The Pacers dressed only 11 available players.

The game turned in the middle quarters. Indiana carried a 42-36 lead after the first, before Miami took over, outscoring the Pacers 32-19 in the second quarter and 35-27 in the third to flip a six-point deficit into a comfortable cushion. The fourth quarter was more competitive, with the Heat winning it 42-37, but by then Indiana's short-handed roster had little left to mount a comeback.

A Pacers roster stretched thin

Indiana took the floor without three regulars. Guard T.J. McConnell was already out with a hamstring strain, and wing Johnny Furphy remained sidelined following knee surgery. Guard Ben Sheppard has also been out with a knee injury. The Pacers lost a fourth player, forward Obi Toppin, when his back locked up before Friday morning's shootaround, acting head coach Lloyd Pierce told reporters afterward, according to the AP recap. Pierce ran the bench in place of Rick Carlisle, who was attending his father's funeral in Ogdensburg, New York, and was not with the team for the game.

Point guard Tyrese Haliburton, who tore his right Achilles tendon in Game 7 of last year's NBA Finals and underwent surgery the next day, had been expected to anchor Indiana's backcourt to open this season. He did not play Friday; the team said he is dealing with a hamstring strain and is expected to be sidelined for at least a couple of weeks, and possibly longer.

The loss leaves Indiana facing a difficult path out of group play in the Pacers' NBA Cup group, now in its fourth year as an in-season event. Teams play four group-stage games, and every club that has advanced to the knockout round in the tournament's history has finished either 4-0 or 3-1 in that opening round, per the AP recap. This year's tournament features six five-team groups, three apiece in each conference, with group play running through Nov. 27 across 60 games league-wide before the knockout rounds begin. The higher seed in each conference hosts its semifinal, and the winner-take-all championship is set for Dec. 11 at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis — a small irony for a Pacers team that opened its own group-play slate with a blowout loss.

A new-look Heat still finding their footing

Miami acquired Antetokounmpo from the Milwaukee Bucks in a blockbuster trade completed on the eve of the 2026 NBA Draft, sending Tyler Herro, Kel'el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kasparas Jakucionis and draft compensation to Milwaukee in the deal. The Bucks had also fielded a competing offer from the Boston Celtics before choosing Miami's package for its additional draft capital and longer-term roster flexibility. Friday's win was only Miami's second of the season through six games, following three straight losses to open the schedule, but it marked a second consecutive victory for a team that is still integrating a two-time MVP and former Defensive Player of the Year into its system under coach Erik Spoelstra.

Friday's box score offered an early answer to one of the questions that has followed the trade since June: whether Antetokounmpo and Thompson, both accustomed to being their team's primary offensive focus, could produce efficiently in the same lineup. The two combined for 56 points, with Thompson working mostly off movement and catch-and-shoot threes while Antetokounmpo operated inside — the kind of complementary split the Heat have been chasing since completing the trade.

Thompson's seven 3-pointers pushed him further up the NBA's career list; the AP recap noted he now sits within 55 made 3-pointers of Ray Allen's total of 2,973, which would move him into the top three all-time. Allen, who ranks on the all-time leaderboards alongside the league's greatest shooters, spent the final two seasons of his own career with the Miami Heat, winning a championship in 2013.

What's next

The Pacers return home to host the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday as they try to stabilize a rotation missing several rotation pieces. The Heat travel to face the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday, the first stop on a stretch of road games that will test how quickly Antetokounmpo and his new teammates are coming together. Both results will also factor into NBA Cup group standings, which run alongside the regular-season table through group play.