MIAMI – With the Miami Heat beating the Indiana Pacers, 145-125, on Saturday night, the team marked its second straight win and showed pieces like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo continuing to build chemistry. Another positive sign from the win featured Heat newcomer Klay Thompson bouncing back in a huge way after a slow start, but if you ask him, an outing like this was inevitable.
After a preseason where Thompson made three out of 20 attempts from three-point range, he had a clean slate at the start of the regular season. However, in the first five games, Thompson averaged 7.8 points per game on 31.7 percent shooting and made 12 of 37 attempts from beyond the arc, for 32.4 percent from deep.
While Thompson was still getting his legs underneath him in Miami, Friday night showcased the player that fans have recognized from his days with the Golden State Warriors, where he was pivotal to winning four championships. He finished with 25 points on nine of 14 shooting from the field and making seven three-pointers out of 12 attempts, as he said after the game that he was “due” for a game like he had Friday.
“I really enjoyed it. You can probably tell by my emotion, and for me, it wasn’t the best start to the season. But to come out here and play with poise and confidence, I knew I was due for a night like this,” Thompson said.
Klay Thompson on feeling great after his best game of the season and how he’s “really comfortable.” #Heat pic.twitter.com/kRuXVqAgWb
— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) October 31, 2026
Heat’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, Erik Spoelstra on Klay Thompson’s role
If there was one aspect that helped the Heat win against the Pacers, it was how effective the team was in their flow and in transition, which especially benefitted Thompson. The same sentiments were echoed by head coach Erik Spoelstra, saying to ClutchPoints that Thompson “has an exponential possibility factor for this team.”
“We want to maximize those opportunities off misses and push the pace, and we were able to do that. Klay [Thompson] was a beneficiary of a lot of those,” Spoelstra said. “He has an exponential possibility factor for this team, and you can see why because he always will provide the gravity, but he is the definition of ignitable, and when he gets on a roll like that, he is really tough to stop. We’ve all seen it or been on the other end of it, but it was fun seeing it tonight in a Miami Heat jersey, and it was cool just seeing everybody enjoying that moment with him.”
Asked Erik Spoelstra about the improved offensive operation tonight and how Klay Thompson impacted it: #Heat
“Our guys are understanding what we're trying to do, and guys looked and felt like guys were having fun out there playing to our strengths. Not necessarily like a 144… pic.twitter.com/5wiq4gzqMr
— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) October 31, 2026
Miami’s fellow newcomer, Antetokounmpo, had another dominating performance, recording his second triple-double with the franchise with 31 points, 18 rebounds, and 10 assists. The two-time MVP said it was a lot of “fun” to watch “one of the best shooters of all time” in Thompson, explaining how pivotal he is to the team.
“He’s one of our runners, he’s gonna space the floor for us, he’s gonna run the floor for us, and it’s gonna be a lot of times that the ball’s gonna find him,” Antetokounmpo said. “He was just hot; he was just knocking down shots, shooting the ball with confidence. And when that happens, the game becomes a lot easier for me, for Bam [Adebayo], for Davion [Mitchell], and for Andrew [Wiggins] too.”
Giannis speaks on Klay Thompson’s performance and how it was “fun” to see him have an outing like that. Spoke about being on the other side of a Thompson barrage. #Heat pic.twitter.com/aWLfyyZMpt
— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) October 31, 2026
Heat’s Klay Thompson speaks on what he “can build on”
Thompson seeing the comments from Spoelstra and Antetokounmpo is “amazing to hear,” as he went through what his role on the Heat is as he’s started every game thus far. Aside from the defensive side of the ball, Thompson provides much-needed spacing to a lineup that revolves around two big men in Antetokounmpo and Adebayo.
“I mean, it’s a huge reason why I’m here is to play with a talent like Giannis [Antetokounmpo] and help him hopefully do what he’s done before. That’s win a championship and an MVP trophy, and Spo [Spoelstra] defined my role very clearly when the season started. Just to play hard-nosed defense and space the floor and give our best players room to operate. And I thought I did a good job of that tonight, and something I’m definitely gonna build on. And I’m just really happy with the patience I showed tonight…I felt like my legs were underneath me, and it’s something I can build on.”
Klay Thompson loves to hear Spo and Giannis talk about his role with the #Heat:
“It's amazing to hear that from both Coach and Giannis. I mean, it's a huge reason why I'm here is to play with a talent like Giannis and help him hopefully do what he's done before. That's win a… pic.twitter.com/eC8A7qGxwd
— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) October 31, 2026
With Thompson helping Miami make a season-best 18 shots from three-point range, contributing seven of them, the hope is that more avalanches from the sharpshooter aren’t a rare sight. The Heat start a five-game West Coast road trip that starts Monday against Thompson’s hometown team, the Los Angeles Lakers.
The post How Heat’s Klay Thompson knew he was ‘due’ for explosive game vs. Pacers appeared first on ClutchPoints.
