Miami @ Indiana preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 10, 2018 ) Miami 114, Indiana 106

The Indiana Pacers are going to make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference, but their position is yet to be decided. The Pacers will try to get in front in the battle for homecourt advantage in the first round when they host the Miami Heat on Sunday.

Indiana sits just a half-game behind the Philadelphia 76ers in the race for the No. 4 spot in the East, 1 1/2 games behind the third-place Cleveland Cavaliers, after holding off the Los Angeles Clippers in a 109-104 win on Friday. "Obviously we're showing our resilience," Pacers point guard Darren Collison told reporters. "I think everybody is coming together. It seems like that whenever our backs are against the wall. Whenever we have a team like that, it's very hard to lose." The Heat still have a shot at homecourt advantage as well and sit seventh in the East, three games behind Indiana. Miami had a three-game winning streak come to an end with a 105-99 loss at Oklahoma City on Friday and is finishing up a two-game trip at the Pacers before playing four straight at home.

TV: 5 p.m. ET, FS Sun (Miami), FS Indiana

ABOUT THE HEAT (39-34): Miami will play five of its remaining nine games against teams with losing records and got veteran guard Dwyane Wade back from a hamstring injury on Friday. Wade, who missed the previous five games, was limited to 20 minutes and scored seven points on 3-of-9 shooting. The Heat's other big injury concern is center Hassan Whiteside, who sat out his seventh consecutive game on Friday with a hip injury and is without a firm timetable for a return, and coach Erik Spoelstra quipped on Friday, "It seems like he's been on that (exercise) bike for two hours."

ABOUT THE PACERS (42-31): Indiana clinched a winning record with Friday's triumph but has a difficult closing stretch with six of the final eight on the road after finishing up with the Heat. "At the end of the day, the work is not done," power forward Thaddeus Young told reporters. "We're going to continue to fight, continue to play. We still have a tough schedule ahead of us and we've still got a lot of ground to cover if we want to move up the standings." Young produced his second double-double of the month with 16 points and 10 rebounds on Friday.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Miami SG Wayne Ellington is 14-of-24 from 3-point range over the last three games.

2. Pacers C Domantas Sabonis (ankle) is expected to miss his sixth straight game.

3. The Heat took two of the first three meetings, but Indiana earned a 120-95 win at Miami on Nov. 19.

PREDICTION: Pacers 103, Heat 99