MIAMI – For a second consecutive night, the edge from Jimmy Butler was missing. For the first time in a while, the defense also was missing.

For the Miami Heat, that proved too much to overcome in a 128-115 loss Thursday night to the Indiana Pacers at Kaseya Center.

In falling for only the second time in their last nine home games, the Heat proved unable to contain the Pacers’ pace and ball movement as well as an inability to contain Indiana guard Tyrese Haliburton.

Indiana closed at .531 from the field and 17 of 40 on 3-pointers, with Hailiburton finishing with 33 points and a season-high 15 assists.

A night after leading wire-to-wire in a home victory over the New Orleans Pelicans, the Heat very much had the look of a team playing on the second night of a back-to-back set.

For the second consecutive night, Butler was held out of the fourth quarter, closing with nine points on 3-of-6 shooting.

Otherwise, the Heat got 20 points and eight rebounds from center Bam Adebayo and 17 points from guard Tyler Herro, which proved not nearly enough to keep Erik Spoelstra’s team afloat.

Later, with the Heat playing from well behind, rookie center Kel’el Ware closed out a 25-point performance, albeit one that came without a single rebound by the 7-footer.

Five Degrees of Heat from Thursday night’s game:

— Game flow: The Pacers led 38-25 at the end of the first period, 66-50 at halftime and 107-83 going into the fourth quarter.

While Spoelstra did not exactly pull the plug at that stage, he did insert undrafted rookie forward Keshad Johnson to start the fourth quarter, as Butler and Adebayo sat.

It was just Johnson’s third appearance of the season, first since being shifted from his two-way contract to a standard deal.

With Johnson and Ware on the court, the Heat closed within 12 on a Ware 3-pointer with 5:33 to play. But that is where the rally stalled.

— Where’s Jimmy?: For the second night in a row, Butler was less than engaged amid the swirl of trade desires.

This time he scored on the Heat’s first possession by attacking the rim, without another basket until converting a 3-point with 6:07 left in the third period, and the Heat down 24.

It was the second consecutive night of a largely passive approach by Butler, often simply spotted up in a corner.

This performance followed up Wednesday night’s nine-point outing against the Pelicans, when he closed 3 of 5 from the field.

— Where’s Ware?: By contrast, Ware maximized his minutes, albeit with the game largely out of reach during the majority of those minutes.

While the rebounding wasn’t there, closing with just, the 3-point stroke was a factor, finishing 3 of 4 from beyond the arc.

On the defensive end, Ware also has three blocked shots and one steal.

— Battle for backcourt: With the release from the first round of fan balloting for the All-Star Game, Herro not only found himself ninth in the early voting, but Haliburton was not even in the Top 10 among East guards.

Haliburton then came out and hit his first three shots, all 3-pointers, on the way to a 16-point first period.

For Herro, it was a rare uneven night, closing 6 of 12, the Pacers limiting his attempts.

Haliburton closed 13 of 21 from the field, including 6 of 13 on 3-pointers.

— Rozier back: Guard Terry Rozier was back for the Heat after serving a one-game NBA suspension for his role in Sunday night’s melee in the road victory over the Houston Rockets.

Rozier entered in the Heat’s first substitution and provided a second-unit spark along with Ware.

Rozier closed with 16 points, seven assists and three rebounds, closing 6 of 12 from the field.

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