INDIANAPOLIS — Observations and other notes of interest from Saturday night’s 123-99 loss to the Indiana Pacers:

– Based on Saturday night’s start, the debate remains whether your best lineup means starting your best players.

– An early 25-point deficit will do that.

– No, it did not look good.

– And it was about more than the early 3-point misses.

– It was about how off Norman Powell was.

– As in the leading scorer who had kept the Heat afloat amid Tyler Herro’s absences.

– Erik Spoelstra often talks about how you have to make the opposition play your game.

– But with Kel’el Ware out of the Heat first five, it allowed the Pacers to comfortably play small.

– Including playing Pascal Siakam defensively against Bam Adebayo.

– No, the Adebayo-Ware pairing was not optimal.

– And, yes, this got more Heat talent on the court at the outset.

– But we’re approaching midseason this week.

– Getting to what works has to be sooner rather than later.

– With Saturday’s starters looking better at the start of the second half.

– Briefly.

– So good enough against what is to follow this coming week?

– As in the Thunder, Suns, Celtics and Thunder?

– So here we sit in January.

– Wondering what works for the Heat.

– And if it ultimately adds up to play-in.

– Again.

– For the fifth time this season, Heat opened with a lineup of Powell, Herro, Adebayo, Andrew Wiggins, and Davion Mitchell.

– That unit entered 2-2.

– So it was Ware to the second unit, his 11th bench appearance of the season.

– The game was Wiggins’ 800th regular-season NBA appearance.

– Adebayo is now three games from 600 career Heat regular-season appearances.

– With the Heat going smaller, the Pacers opened with a lineup of Andrew Nembhard, Quenton Jackson, Aaron Nesmith, Johnny Furphy and Pascal Siakam.

– With Mitchell called for his second foul with 7:22 left in the opening period, Jaime Jaquez Jr. entered earlier than usual.

– Jaquez had been listed as questionable earlier in the day with a stomach illness.

– With Wiggins then called for his second foul with 6:17 left in the opening period, Pelle Larsson followed as the Heat’s second reserve.

– Nikola Jovic followed.

– Then Ware as ninth man.

– Leaving Dru Smith out of that mix.

– Smith did not enter for the first time until 11:43 remained, when the Heat were down 28.

– By the time Smith entered, Myron Gardner already was on the court for the Heat.

– With depth in the backcourt to the degree that Kasparas Jakucionis soon could be headed to the G League for playing time.

– And Simone Fontecchio now buried deep on the bench.

– With Jaquez cleared just prior to the game from the stomach illness that had him questionable earlier in the day, it left the Heat with their primary rotation for only the fourth time this season.

– “Injuries, missed games really are part of this league right now,” Spoelstra said. “So we’re no different than anybody else. So we actually probably have had less of it.”

– That, of course, was prior to a game against a team that in last season’s playoffs lost Tyrese Haliburton with an Achilles tear.

– Haliburton watched in street clothes from Indiana’s bench.

– In addition, the Pacers also were without Benedict Mathurin and Obi Toppin.

– On the return of Jaquez from a two-game absence with an ankle sprain, Spoelstra was asked how it could spark the second unit.

– “Yeah, not just for the second unit, but particularly how we play right now,” Spoelstra said. “We really do need his attacking nature, his ability to get into the paint. When he’s not there, our paint numbers went way down. And that’s not a coincidence. But he’s really improved a lot of the aspects of his game.”

– Spoelstra added, “But more so than just like the specifics of the game, it’s his competitive spirit and nature and toughness that just fits right in with us.”

– At the morning shootaround, Spoelstra reflected on the scheduled Thursday game in Chicago that was postponed due to condensation on the court at the United Center.

– “It was an unfortunate situation,” Spoelstra said. “Our guys had really prepared and I felt like emotionally we were geared up and ready to compete. Everybody’s really looking forward to it and it’s just an odd situation to be in like that and then there’s no game and you’re trying to wind down. We were back at the hotel and you normally have some kind of emotion, either a win or a loss, and there was no emotion.”

– Adebayo said he agreed with the postponement in Chicago, rather than attempting to gear back up to game readiness after such a lengthy delay.

– “After an hour of just sitting there, it kind of starts to die down,” he said of the preparedness. “So, I’m glad they rescheduled it.”

– With his first steal, Herro tied Sherman Douglas for 20th on the Heat all-time regular-season list.