OFFICIAL Miami Heat vs. Indiana Pacers ECF Series Thread

Originally posted by 49ersMyLife:

Originally posted by LA9erFan:

Originally posted by 49ersMyLife:
Terrible luck on those turnovers...ugh

Luck?

I think 1st one was lucky...I give credit to West for putting his arms up - but Lebron has probably makes that pass 10 times during a game and it never gets deflected and would have hit Ray Allen for an open 3. 2nd one, West played great and Lebron tried to make a tight pass and that got deflected as well. A lot of times defenders extend their arms in the passing lanes and nothing happens. Not taking credit away from West, but 1st turnover was unlucky.

1st one was a bad bass for exactly the reasons that you stated. It's not like West even saw what was going on. LeBron just threw it right at him.

Originally posted by LA9erFan:
Last year, it was pretty apparent that the Pacers matched up well with the Heat, but it's difficult to win when the other team has the best 3 players on the court. This year, Indiana has the 2nd best player in the series, and that might be the difference.

And Lance Stephenson is incredibly entertaining. He reminds me of Manu when he was young. Not in terms of his style of play, but because almost everything he does is either amazing or utterly terrible, with very little in between, and he's really unpredictable.

If the NBA wanted to cancel the rest of the playoffs and just make this a best of 21 series I'd be totally okay with that. This is the most I've been entertained by a non-Lakers series since Boston/Chicago '09.

I agree 100%. I remember when Bulls won the 1st game of 2nd round and I came on the board and I said I'm not even worried about the Bulls. This series...I'm a little worried about the Pacers. I expected Hibbert to be a mismatch, but I never expected him to put up 30 pts in a game. If that becomes a trend, Miami could be in trouble.

Still strongly feel Miami will win the series...because they haven't played near their best and still almost had a 2-0 lead. On the other hand, Pacers have played as well as they could have against Miami. So, Miami should feel confident. Having said that, only 5 games left - and a team can get hot and stay hot.

Originally posted by 49ersMyLife:
I agree 100%. I remember when Bulls won the 1st game of 2nd round and I came on the board and I said I'm not even worried about the Bulls. This series...I'm a little worried about the Pacers. I expected Hibbert to be a mismatch, but I never expected him to put up 30 pts in a game. If that becomes a trend, Miami could be in trouble.

Still strongly feel Miami will win the series...because they haven't played near their best and still almost had a 2-0 lead. On the other hand, Pacers have played as well as they could have against Miami. So, Miami should feel confident. Having said that, only 5 games left - and a team can get hot and stay hot.

I'm not so sure this is a matter of Indiana being hot. I feel like they're getting better looks than Miami are. They're going to continue to give Miami difficulty with their size, and will continue to outrebound them. The Pacers are playing superb defense, but that's what they do. I don't see what the fluky elements are. I feel pretty confident that either Hibbert or West (who was off tonight) is gonna continue to give Miami fits.

I also said that Miami would be fine against Chicago after the first game, because the quality of Miami's looks were so much better. That's not the case in this series. In fact, I think Miami's shot pretty well on contested jumpers, and it's unlikely that keeps up. This is an even matchup in every way.

Originally posted by LA9erFan:

Originally posted by 49ersMyLife:
I agree 100%. I remember when Bulls won the 1st game of 2nd round and I came on the board and I said I'm not even worried about the Bulls. This series...I'm a little worried about the Pacers. I expected Hibbert to be a mismatch, but I never expected him to put up 30 pts in a game. If that becomes a trend, Miami could be in trouble.

Still strongly feel Miami will win the series...because they haven't played near their best and still almost had a 2-0 lead. On the other hand, Pacers have played as well as they could have against Miami. So, Miami should feel confident. Having said that, only 5 games left - and a team can get hot and stay hot.

I'm not so sure this is a matter of Indiana being hot. I feel like they're getting better looks than Miami are. They're going to continue to give Miami difficulty with their size, and will continue to outrebound them. The Pacers are playing superb defense, but that's what they do. I don't see what the fluky elements are. I feel pretty confident that either Hibbert or West (who was off tonight) is gonna continue to give Miami fits.

I also said that Miami would be fine against Chicago after the first game, because the quality of Miami's looks were so much better. That's not the case in this series. In fact, I think Miami's shot pretty well on contested jumpers, and it's unlikely that keeps up. This is an even matchup in every way.

Really? I felt Miami was gettin' much better shots consistently in the 2nd half. Got some really good looks late in the game too...Chalmers and Bosh missed wide open 3s and if Lebron was a little more careful, Ray Allen would have gotten 2 attempts at open 3s. Actually, all 4 jumpers Ray took were wide open and he made only 1. Cole got open looks and he missed them. Outside of the 3 all-stars on Miami, rest of the team played poorly. I hope that won't continue.

Paul George is a damn good player, but he is a 43% shooter. I'd say he is playing out of his mind right now. He got some easy looks but he also got some not so easy looks and he drained them.

I'd put Lebron on West (Lebron played great defense on West in 2nd half when he played him) and let Battier/Wade deal with Paul George for the 1st 3 quarters. Play off of him and let him to shoot Js. Hibbert will be a nightmare for Heat, but he shouldn't get 30. Heat must attack instantly on offense to make Hibbert run back rather than slowing down the game and letting Hibbert slowly jog back on defense. This will not only tire Hibbert out, it will give Miami better shots at the rim or give open looks to Ray or Battier.

So far, I feel Miami is not really using their speed to their advantage. I expect Miami to attack earlier in the shot clock. I disagree with it being an even match-up. I'd give Heat a decent edge, but they can't play sloppy like they did against the Bulls. They have to play solid 48 minutes...which they haven't done since the first round.

Originally posted by 49ersMyLife:
This article was written in Dec. 2012...and 2013 has been Lebron's best year so far, so it doesn't even factor in best 6 months of this career.


Using the standard clutch filters – the last five minutes of the game leading or trailing by no more than five points – in the 369 minutes of high-pressure basketball he has played with Miami, James leads the NBA with a player efficiency rating of 34.8, regular season and playoffs. We don't need to name names here, but think of any player and James has been more efficient late in close games, and that's using a metric that doesn't fully factor in defensive talents that almost won him a Defensive Player of the Year award a season ago.




http://www.nba.com/heat/news_recap/lebron-james-clutch



Now, the stats for this season:

In the 30 minutes of clutch time that James has played for Miami in 2012-13, he's performing above his typical averages virtually across the board. He's averaging 34.8 points on 63 percent shooting to go with 10.8 rebounds, 9.6 assists and 9.6 free-throw attempts.


He's averaging a triple double in clutch...and no one else is even close.

Good stuff, can't argue with those impressive numbers, no matter how unclutch LeBron has appeared to be from what I've seen (but as I said, I haven't seen most of his games, which is why I refrained from drawing any conclusions). Maybe just a result of selective memory.

Has the makings of a great series. LeBron bragged about winning 5, 6, 7 championships with DWade upon signing with Miami. The Miami pieces are old, Allen and Battier are unproductive and Haslem is no match for the Pacer front line. Cleveland is looking like a nice landing spot for LeBron after next year. Game three may decide the series. One thing for sure, Indiana will not back down. The Heat have no answer for Hibbert or West. I guess what makes the series so entertaining is that we may be witnessing the emergence of the next NBA superstar in Paul George. The next few games will answer that question.

Such an entertaining series! GO INDY!

imagine if the pacers had danny granger healthy and could rotate him or stephenson in off the bench.

Crazy how much the Heat have changed, perception and reality wise, since the big three joined. This is not a "super team." D Wade is a shell of himself. Bosh wasn't as good as most people thought. LBJ is this team. They have some good three point shooters obviously, but they get a lot of wide open looks cause of LBJ.

They are still a really good defensive team, but offensively this ain't no super team. Its one superstar, another guy whose superstar days have passed and another guy who should have never been labeled a superstar.

Originally posted by jrg:
Pacers in 7

this

Originally posted by crabman82:
imagine if the pacers had danny granger healthy and could rotate him or stephenson in off the bench.

He got a max contract right? and he plays the same position as George.... Hmm, I wonder what they will do with Granger. They play better w/o him.

The dude Hibbert has made HUGE strides. Wow. He can actually play offense now.

Originally posted by sacniner:
Crazy how much the Heat have changed, perception and reality wise, since the big three joined. This is not a "super team." D Wade is a shell of himself. Bosh wasn't as good as most people thought. LBJ is this team. They have some good three point shooters obviously, but they get a lot of wide open looks cause of LBJ.

They are still a really good defensive team, but offensively this ain't no super team. Its one superstar, another guy whose superstar days have passed and another guy who should have never been labeled a superstar.

Wade & Bosh would still be considered a superstar & a star if LBJ weren't around. Wade still has the ups and the quickness. Bosh might still be the best big man scorer in the game. He & Bosh are 31 & 29 years old, respectively. This is part of what playing next to LeBron entails.

Originally posted by LA9erFan:
Wade & Bosh would still be considered a superstar & a star if LBJ weren't around. Wade still has the ups and the quickness. Bosh might still be the best big man scorer in the game. He & Bosh are 31 & 29 years old, respectively. This is part of what playing next to LeBron entails.

Wade still has the ups you think? So has he just been injured? He has some shakes, but his athleticism has been a lot worse this year. It seems as if its hard for him to create. He did play some good defense at times last night, but he looks like a totally different player.

Bosh is a nice scorer from the perimeter, but coming from Toronto I think his perception has changed a lot. A lot of that is due to being the third option, but don't you think he was overvalued coming from Toronto?

Originally posted by sacniner:

Originally posted by LA9erFan:
Wade & Bosh would still be considered a superstar & a star if LBJ weren't around. Wade still has the ups and the quickness. Bosh might still be the best big man scorer in the game. He & Bosh are 31 & 29 years old, respectively. This is part of what playing next to LeBron entails.

Wade still has the ups you think? So has he just been injured? He has some shakes, but his athleticism has been a lot worse this year. It seems as if its hard for him to create. He did play some good defense at times last night, but he looks like a totally different player.

Bosh is a nice scorer from the perimeter, but coming from Toronto I think his perception has changed a lot. A lot of that is due to being the third option, but don't you think he was overvalued coming from Toronto?

Wade has shown his ups a few times in these playoffs. I can't find 'em right now, but 4ML a couple of others have commented on how springy he's looked during these playoffs, skying to get rebounds, block shots, etc. It's definitely not just me who's seen it. He doesn't create much because he doesn't get much of an opportunity to create these days. Bosh wasn't considered to be a superstar in Toronto, but he was rightly considered to be an All-Star. He's a tremendous offensive big man.

IMO, no doubt this is a superteam. You have 3 guys in what's considered to be the prime of most player's careers, all of whom were 24ppg type players when they were the man.

Originally posted by LA9erFan:
Wade has shown his ups a few times in these playoffs. I can't find 'em right now, but 4ML a couple of others have commented on how springy he's looked during these playoffs, skying to get rebounds, block shots, etc. It's definitely not just me who's seen it. He doesn't create much because he doesn't get much of an opportunity to create these days. Bosh wasn't considered to be a superstar in Toronto, but he was rightly considered to be an All-Star. He's a tremendous offensive big man.

IMO, no doubt this is a superteam. You have 3 guys in what's considered to be the prime of most player's careers, all of whom were 24ppg type players when they were the man.

Wade may have a few games where he plays like his old self, although, he doesn't do it on a consistent basis anymore. Some games, his athleticism isn't there like it once was. I know he has had a lot of issues with his knee, and that may be the primary reason. From what I remember of Bosh in Toronto, he was good on the post, and had that nice short to mid range shot. Now, he doesn't really do much in the post. He almost exclusively relies on the perimeter game. You probably know this better than me, but I don't know how much of that is due to playing with Bron, system, etc.

Initially, this was a super team. At this point, IMO they aren't. Its one extremely great rare player who kind of carries the team. Wade and Bosh are obviously key pieces, but IMO Bron carries that team now.