INDIANAPOLIS -- Winning back-to-back games in the NBA isn't easy. The Heat did it only three times last season in 17 tries -- all in the month of November when Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh were both healthy.

Friday night, they let a 13-point lead over the Pacers in the first half slip away and couldn't stop Paul George, who finished with 36 points and 12 rebounds in the kind of performance he used to put up against the Heat before he broke his leg last season.

Losing at Indiana -- against George -- where the Heat are now 13-50 all-time (including the playoffs) is nothing to be ashamed about. But Bosh knows the Heat (3-3) need to take advantage of what's next. That's seven consecutive home games from this Sunday through Nov. 23.

Outside of Sunday's game against the Toronto Raptors (5-1) and next Thursday's game against the Utah Jazz (3-2), all of the teams the Heat will face during this coming homestand are .500 or worse. With Miami set to hit the road hard in January, they could ill-afford to blow this opportunity to load up on some wins.

"The only thing I can think about is we have to have urgency with this seven game homestand because that just means there's a seven-game road trip coming up," said Bosh, who led the Heat with 21 points and 11 rebounds Friday.

"It's eventually going to even up. We've been talking about this, having all these home games before the New Year. We have to make sure we take advantage of it, protect home court. I think if we do that it will put us in really good position to make a move."

> So what happened to Dwyane Wade on Friday night? After scoring 20 points or more in five consecutive games, he was held scoreless in the second half and finished with just nine points on 4-of-15 shooting.

Well, Paul George is what happened to him. Indiana put the 6-9, 230-pound wing on Wade and took away whatever he tried to do in the pick and roll.

"It was just one of those nights they weren't going to let me turn the corner, be in the paint," said Wade, who was 1-of-8 on contested field goals. "This team protects the paint very well and they try to make sure you can turn the corner. I knew it was going to be a tough night once I saw what their defensive scheme was. But at the end of the day you're just trying to do whatever you can to help your team win."

Wade said "it sucked" to play in his first back-to-back of the season.

"This back-to-back sucked, especially coming here," he said. "When I looked at the calendar and saw our first back-to-back was in Indiana I said 'Really?' But it's the NBA. First one we didn't win. Next one comes along we'll do better."

Wade said after Thursday's win in Minnesota his minutes to date have been about where he wants them to be. So sitting out in back-to-backs to rest his knee isn't a concern for him yet. Wade played a little less than 30 minutes on Friday.

"Right now it's all based on communication, based on feel, based on how his last game went, practice and then we'll go from there," Spoelstra said as to whether or not he thought about giving Wade the night off. "But there's been a lot of communication. We feel we're in a good spot right now. If we have to adjust or adapt we will."

> Center Hassan Whiteside, held to eight points, 12 rebound and four blocks over 33 minutes Friday, said he was only trying to free his arm before Paul George shoved him in the back.

“I'm just trying to go back [on defense] and I felt somebody holding my arm and I just pulled my arm back,” Whiteside said. “Every possession somebody was holding me and I just pulled my arm. I didn't even look at who it was. It didn't make any difference. But it was Paul George.

“It wasn't any big deal to me. It happens."

Whiteside said he didn't say anything to George after the incident. He walked down to the other side of the court to avoid the situation from escalating.

"He showed great restraint man," Chris Andersen said as Whiteside was answering questions in the locker room about the situation with George.