Also Stephenson took his game to another level this year.

Pacers have to take care of home court if they want to win the series. I just don't see them winning one on the road. So far so good.

This was to be expected though. The heat haven't played anyone worth a **** in awhile and the pacers are always extra motivated when Miami comes to town.

Yeah, I agree with them needing to win every game at home. They won't win in Miami. Their best shot at having a chance in this series is to win game 2 and hold serve at home.

I think they can steal one in Miami.

It's possible but if the heat take game two they take the series IMO.

Why can't they win in Miami? I think the bigger issue is the pacers could still lose 1 or 2 at home.

As enigmatic as the Pacers have been this Spring, I could see them losing the next 4 games by a total of 60 points.

I could also see them winning the series.

Home court hasn't meant much in these playoffs when competitive teams play each other.

It's the same story as last year. Indy's big men (Hibbert, West primarily) pounded Miami inside and the Indy perimeter players knocked down threes all day long. George played well but Stephenson was the player of the game for his all around play. If Indy cools down from outside it will be tough, but they played a great game yesterday.

Miami doesn't have much depth, but Wade looks way better than he has the last few years. He is rested and he is way more efficient. Miami needs some post defense so will be interesting to see if Haslem gets more run time in game 2 to pound Hibbert/West.

I'm guessing this series is going to drag out to 6/7 games which is good for the Spurs if they can make quick work of the Ibaka-less Thunder.

Well, appropriate username for sure. And obvious troll. Voted down.

Really good read on how impactful Hibbert has been against the Heat:
http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/10957255/miami-heat-neutralize-roy-hibbert-nba-playoffs

quote:

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The box score doesn't do Hibbert's dominance justice. We have to dig a little deeper to truly tap into what makes Hibbert so transformative. The Heat continue to shy away from attacking the basket when Hibbert steps onto the floor. In Game 1 on Sunday, the Heat's average field goal attempt came 14.2 feet away from the basket when Hibbert was on the floor. Basically, he turned them into a purely jump-shooting team. But when Hibbert hit the pine, the Heat's average shot distance shrunk to 7.6 feet in Game 1. The master of verticality almost doubled the Heat's shot distance horizontally.

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At least Indy didn't come out flat on their face.

This is really poor basketball right now.

yep. IND just sucks at shooting

I've been trying to watch this. It's boring as hell.

That was awesome! Everyone was focused on Hibbert

D Wade's ankles

Stephenson taking over

As crazy ad the crowd was that quarter you'd think the Pacers were up by 20. Going to be an interestinf 4th.

I don't know what game you guys are watching, but from my chair here, Miami is the team playing like crap tonight.

Indiana shrinking away here late.

4 min left and both teams just now hit 75 points. Really really pathetic basketball. If Miami makes the finals, it will be the most gimme scenario of all time.

Hope the Spurs beat them in 4.

Hard to imagine Indiana scoring 5 more points. Even harder to imagine them holding the Heat to 0 the rest of the way.

Difference in this game was miami's decision to play defense again

Indiana is so un-clutch.

Welp, Indiana gonna lose this one in a see who could play the least bad game 2. We'll see if Miami can put together a solid game start to finish in this series.

Lebron and Wade woke up and took over the game in the 4th while Indy crawled under a rock. Also Spoelstra made all the right lineup moves while Vogel just watched his starters cave out there. Ugly game.

Seems like the Heat basically used this game to figure things out against Indiana. Worked on some different matchups and lineups, then when they needed it LeBron took over.

Given the nature of this rivalry I'd expect Miami to drop 1 at home, but who knows. Indy is weird.

Uh oh, Stephenson hobbling at the end

He will be fine, and good for a costly frustration tech in Miami

Indiana is 5-1 on the road this postseason. They aren't done yet. I be mildly surprised if they don't win one of the next two.

look who they were playing on the road....

Token, just saying that Indiana seems to play better when their backs are against the wall.

Diet, I think you're overestimating Miami. They aren't as good this year as they were last year. They're no longer a juggernaut. They're one fantastic player who's surrounded by a flawed team. That isn't a guarantee for success as Lebron showed in Cleveland.