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Heat seek first win in Conseco Fieldhouse in 11 tries

Nov 2, 2007 - 1:13 PM Miami (0-1) at Indiana (1-0) 7:00 pm EDT

INDIANAPOLIS (Ticker) - The Miami Heat play their first road game of the season Friday when they visit the Indiana Pacers.

Miami opened its season with a 91-80 home loss to Detroit on Thursday. Including the end last regular season and the playoffs, the Heat have dropped 14 straight game.

On Friday, the Heat also will look to snap a 10-game losing streak at Conseco Fieldhouse, where they are just 2-12 all-time.

The Heat will hope to get center Shaquille O'Neal going. Facing constant double teams, O'Neal took just six shots and managed a mere nine points Thursday. It marked just the 18th time in 982 career games he was held under double figures.

A positive that came out of the opener was the production of guard Ricky Davis, who was acquired in a five-player deal from the Minnesota Timberwolves on October 24. He scored 23 points in his first game for his new team.

Davis is being counted on to provide the scoring punch in the absence of playmaking guard Dwyane Wade, who is expected to miss most of November as he completes his rehab from offseason shoulder and knee surgeries.

Indiana has its own injury issues to deal with this season. It remains to be seen whether center Jermaine O'Neal can go in this contest after sitting out the season-opening win over the Washington Wizards, 119-110, in overtime on Wednesday due a hyperextended left knee.

Even though center Troy Murphy also sat out with a strained left Achillies' tendon, the Pacers received strong performances from forwards Danny Granger and Mike Dunleavy Jr. Granger finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds and Dunleavy had 25 and 12.