Few days away, boom, a good 8 pages behind lol. Pacers were hitting their open shots yesterday. Miami defense was all over the place. Silly plays by Miami (Chalmers) killed momentum big time. Everyone keeps going on about the big 3, Chris Bosh was a ghost yesterday.
Chris Bosh is a ghost everytime he plays Indiana. The difference before was Miami had a better bench and were much faster. Before, Bosh disappearing could be handled. Now, they are in a lot of trouble. This isn't the same Miami team as the two previous years. They are in trouble.
I wouldn't say they are in trouble just yet. If they were down 0-2, then its a different story. The Miami heat have lost, what, 2 games this playoffs? The Pacers have shown they can be inconsistent and sometimes lack energy and enthusiasm. The major difference this game was, the Pacers shooting around 40% from 3 compared to the Heat horrible. Its funny how the headlines overreact over 1 game, not only 1 game, but the first game of the series. Had the Miami Heat won, it would have been "Pacers can't handle the heat, blah blh blah", something along those lines of how they are not getting along etc. Perhaps the Heat weren't focused, not really being challenged all month might have caught them off guard. Chris Bosh is avg IMO, the difference for the Miami Heat will be Chalmers, Battier, and Allen. If they play well, strong defense, make a few shots, LeBron and Wade can pull out a W. I also think LeBron has to be way more aggressive this series. He loves to move the ball around and make the smart pass, but sometimes you have to have that greedy/killer mentality and just take over a game.
This has nothing to do with three's. This has everything to do with the size difference between teams. With Roy Hibbert playing well, you pair him with a 6'10" West, they completely over power Miami. This showed in the difference in free throws between both teams. Pacers shot over 30 free throws to Miami's 12. Indiana had more free throw attempts in the third quarter than Miami did all game. This isn't because of their three shooting. This is because Miami is a VERY small team. The fact that Hibbert came back is a nightmare for Miami. It may be Premature to say Miami is in trouble, but I think they are. They shot over 50% yesterday yet still lost by double digits. Size matters and Miami is very undersized.
Miami only plays defense when they feel like it. Piranha my ass. Lazy is more like it. I still think they win in 6.
3 shooting is part of it. IND has shown to be a very hot and cold team and when they don't make their outside shots, the ball sticks, and they shoot bad shots. Also Miami's poor 3 point shooting should bounce back, but who knows. Teams have stayed hot/cold for series before. IND did what they were supposed to do, protect home court. Bosh doesn't fill a stat sheet for MIA against IND, but he makes the defense go. He is quick enough and lanky enough that his switches and trapping are highly effective. On top of that he has the threat to pull Hibbert from the paint which he did with his ice cold game last game. Lebron defensively looked confused, which rarely happens. He didn't know how to react when West was setting picks in the PnR and how to recover and rotate. He hesitated and that usually is enough to make the Heat defense that step slow. Granted he still put up great numbers, but again it's defense. The offense could get much better, but it played good enough to win the game. With MIA, you have to give them the benefit of the doubt here and be more skeptical of IND. I'll wait to react for Miami for a bit because I've jumped the gun quite a bit with them and been wrong each time. Spoelstra also might have some tricks up his sleeve as usual.
You're telling me they lost because of their size, and that they are in trouble because of their size? The Miami Heat are the only team in the NBA that can win without size, because they have LeBron James and Dwayne Wade. They've already proven they can win without a true big man. Yes the Pacers took more FTs, they probably will all series. Last season the Pacers took 19 more total free throws than the Heat. The Spurs took a total of about 40 more FT's than the Heat. I don't expect the differential in game 2 to be as high as it was in game 1, but even with all those free throws, the Pacers won by what, 11? They will need Battier, Chalmers, and Allen to make a couple big shots to win this series. Also Size doesn't exactly = more FTs. Just go look back at the Indiana/Hawks series. The bigger team shot less FTs than the smaller team, yet the Hawks still played them to the wire, and they don't have a James and Wade tandem. Someone else said it best, the Heat were playing LAZY defense.
Agreed. Even with the massive FT disparity, the Heat lost by 11. If they make a couple of those 3's, they're right in it. Indiana hit the 3 ball when it mattered, always killing any momentum Miami might have had.
That's bullshit. You can't make that claim. Teams get bullshit points towards the end when the game is clearly won. The same thing happens all the time. Granted, Miami might have been in it a little more with a couple three's made, but don't even bring up the 11 point lead at the end and Miami could have cut it down. Indiana completely spanked Miami and it ended as an 11 point game because it was over by the 3 minute mark.
And don't give me shit saying size doesn't matter with Miami. Here's something to think about: Pacers outscored Miami by 19 points when Hibbert was on the floor, which also made them shoot from 7 feet further away than without him on the floor. Everytime Miami attempted to drive to the basket, they would pass it back out because Roy Hibbert was there to meet them. It was blatantly obvious that Miami struggled because of the size difference. The Pacers got to the basket with ease. Miami had to settle for outside shots that they were not hitting. Size played a HUGE role in that game and will play one all series. Miami better find another shooter because as history shows, if you leave it up to Bosh against Indiana, he's not gonna come through.
That's old news man. Miami is not the team they were two years in a row. They are a completely different team that struggles against size. They were saying the same thing if they were to face the Clippers. Miami is a VERY small team. They rely on shooters and LeBron James going to the basket. They don't normally face a 7 foot 2 center, one of the best in the league, and a 6'10" muscle bound David West. They are relying on their shooters right now, something they downgraded on. When they had Miller and Battier making three's they were unstoppable. Why? Because they demanded respect from the outside which opened the inside up for LeBron and Wade. Who's gonna shoot for them now? Battier, who hasn't showed up all playoffs? Ray Allen, who is old as dirt? James Jones, who rarely sees minutes? They don't have the shooters they once had, which in turn creates severe problems with size. People also seem to forget the impact of Haslem? A guy who never sees the floor anymore. He was HUGE for them a bunch the last couple years. He's nowhere to be found. Size will play a HUGE role in this series.
Calm down, no one is giving you any shit. It was a 9 point game when the Miami Heat were making their run, and then Chalmers made an ill advised idiotic play on CJ Watson, which pretty much killed momentum. Later on, PG hit a big 3, which absolutely ended the game. However, if Miami doesn't shoot 25% from 3, they are right in this game, with plenty of time to go. They had the exact same size vs the Hawks, and struggled. The Miami Heat are far better than the Atlanta Hawks FYI. Now Hibbert is one of the best in the league? I don't care to go and look through all the previous posts, but I can say with confidence, that it was not too long ago people were talking about how garbage Hibbert was. Haslem hasn't been that guy for a while. He gave them about 19 minutes vs the Pacers (agreed, good minutes), and less than 10 vs the SPURS, oh yea, they won the championship. Sorry, as much as I would love to agree, I am not counting out the Miami Heat, LeBron/Wade after 1 game. For god sake, a few weeks ago everyone was going on about how bad the Pacers are, and now, they are an unbeatable team in the East? After 1 game? come on. Based on your logic, the Pacers should actually sweep the Heat. Because they will be bigger and stronger every game.
I wouldn't take those odds. Heat lost game 1 several times during their championship runs only to come back and win the series.
Well to me, this Miami team is the weakest of the four they have had. The best one might have actually been the 2011 team but for whatever reason, Lebron just completely choked in the finals. Wade though was playing very good, more consistently all through that season and the playoffs. Wade really has not been the same because of injuries, he still has his moments but back in 2011 he was actually still considered the #1 guy on the team and did put together a much better finals and would have been the MVP if they had won it.
Right now I would put the power rankings at: 1. Spurs 2. Heat 3. Pacers 4. Thunder The only reason why I jumped the Pacers over the Thunder was because if they did actually play, it could be major problems without Ibaka. In essence though, both match ups look very close so I wouldnt get caught up on it to much. At this point I would be shocked if the Heat or Spurs didnt win the finals. If the Thunder did derail San Antonio, I think Miami would beat the Thunder in the finals. Same if the Pacers derail Miami, I think San Antonio would beat the Pacers in the finals. I cannot see both the Spurs and Heat losing in the conference finals so one of them is going to win the championship this season.
