Pacers/Heat
BigItaly42
Senior Member
I think this could be one hell of a battle if Indiana plays the physical type of basketball that Chicago played against the Heat last round. I think that if Hibbert can assert himself down low and force Lebronand Wade into primarily jump shooters, then Indiana has a shot. But if Hibbert doesn't show up, I could see Miami running all over them. I think this is the toughest potential matchup for the Heat. Any thoughts on a small play for Indy in the series?
Comments
no play
That would be one helluva way for Stein to go out.
The problem the Pacers will have is that Hibbert will be guarding Chris Bosh. on the offensive end, Bosh will be spending more time near the three point line than the paint. One of the things that has made the Heat so good is, by Bosh playing the five, he pulls other teams centers out of the lane. He's a very good jump shooter and by him stretching the floor, it opens up those driving lanes. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Also, I believe the Heat's record in their last 48 games is 45-3, think about that for a second. Personally I would need much higher odds if I were to put anything on Indy. I do agree that the Pacers represent the toughest challenge the Heat will face, but barring a major injury, I don't see how Indy beats them four times.
Excellent Write-up and Agree 100% they may steal a game and it could even be tonight with the long layoff but the Heat are at a different level right now.
Italy, you mention the Pacers record against the Heat as well as the rebounding edge during the regular season, then in the next sentence you say it doesn't matter in the playoffs, then why bring it up in the first place if it has no bearing now? Every team has a weakness, the Heat's is rebounding. They were dead last in the league in rebounding, so any team they play will always have a rebounding advantage over them, although they did rebound very well in the Bulls series. You mention the one time Miami won they shot over 50%. They led the league in FG %, so making more than half of their shots is something this team does routinely. I fully expect Miami to shoot a higher % than Indy during the series and I also expect them to get out rebounded. Also, last year's Spurs and last year's Thunder were much closer in ability than this year's Heat and Pacers. IMO, the only chance Indy has of making this a competitive series is to limit their turnovers and hope the Heat doesn't go crazy shooting three's.
I agree Kane; calls were missed and made for both teams but that call on LeBron to foul him out and then the travel call on wade and of course battier hits the 3 was rough as well. give pacers credit though as they got all the needed off boards and made the heads up plays down the stretch. Miami has to feel they let this one slip but the pacers have to feel they fought hard and got the W... great series.
stern does not mind a long series won by miami
those calls you are referring to are more likely to go down over the next 3 games
It's pretty obvious the league as well as every NBA fan who doesn't live in Indiana or Cleveland, wants to see Spurs-Heat. However, I don't think the league has instructed the refs to "make sure" it happens. You might have a point if Indy really gets screwed on some calls in game five, we'll see.
yup
tremendous offensive rebounding % in this series
Can someone explain this one to me, not trying to be argumentative just dont know the finer points of the rules. It seemed to me wade caught the ball and took two steps without dribbling, which I thought was a travel (Not talking about the stepback, talking about before when he initially got the ball). Also, I thought the stepback was only legal as you are picking up your dribble, is it really legal to pick up your dribble then do the stepback?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nrFRnP_vcs
'It's difficult to tell'
Sorry Taco, they've now played six games and the Heat has not gotten the type of calls you would expect them to get, if anything the Pacers are getting the benefit of the close calls. While Indy was clearly the better team tonight and deserve the W, there were a bunch of bad calls go against Miami. You have one game left to prove your conspiracy theory, we'll see what happens in game seven.
as you said still one more game to go tho
Now that it's a lose once and go home series, I would be shocked if the Pacers get a fair shake @Miami. Pacers San Antonio= worst case scenario for stern
I think this series has been a wash in terms of calls, although the Pacers got more in game 6. We will see how game 7 works out, where a loss means no more LeBron to watch. Having this thing go 7 is far from the worst case scenario for the league, but the odds of Miami not getting at the very least the more crucial calls are about as high as Kobe and Derek Fisher not getting every call back when they were both lakers.
Don't think anyone is saying that. All I'm saying is when a big market team is on the brink of elimination, officiating almost always seems to tilt in their favor. Your example from above is the most extreme example of this.
That's sort of my point, six games played and the Heat have not gotten the calls go their way like you would expect. Indy got some calls go their way last night like you said, but also the end of game four, Lebron's sixth foul and the travel on Wade, If Stern has his hand in this then those two calls don't happen. If I'm Frank Vogel I would have been expecting Miami to get all the calls before the series started, but right now I have to think he's thrilled (and maybe even a little surprised) by how the series has been officiated.