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The Pacers Are Who We Thought They Were!

I wrote in my last I Like Sportz post that the Pacers absolutely had what it took to stand up to the daunting Miami Heat & Tuesday, they proved that.  After a very competitive game 1 that ended with the Heat just outplaying the Pacers down the stretch run, the Pacers regained momentum in the series by holding on to win a very ugly & gritty game 2.  Chris Bosh, the Heat's all-star power forward, will be missing the rest of this series due to an abdominal injury, which is a huge blow to Miami.  The Heat rely heavily on LeBron & Wade to carry the load & Bosh was that anchor who could help out should they need it.  Now he's gone & this already thin team is looking all that more beatable.

The Heat had a 5 point lead at halftime at home, the first half being a very low scoring & physical affair.  The Pacers came out hot in the 3rd quarter & exploded for 28 points & held Miami to only 14 3rd quarter points, giving them a 9 point lead going into the 4th quarter, which even blossomed to an 11 point lead.  The Heat are no strangers to miraculous comebacks, especially in the playoffs, & they fought back.  Indiana missed 24 of their final 29 shots, costing them the lead on the road against the team that most "experts" claim to be the best in the world.  Recipe for a loss & going down 2 games, right?  Wrong.

What's one of the biggest knocks against this talented Heat team, besides their lack of depth?  It's the ineptitude to perform in clutch situations that has taxed this team for the past 2 years.  Those ugly demons surfaced again last night as the two players they rely on the most to propel them to victory, didn't deliver.  If you look at the box score, you'll say Wade & LeBron had great games, which they did, as a whole.  It's those last couple minutes of the game that can change everything.  Dwyane Wade misses an open lay-up that would have tied the game with less than 30 seconds left & all of a sudden his 24 point game is a bit tainted.  LeBron misses 2 free throws with his team down 1 with less than a minute left & his 28 point, 9 rebound effort is pushed to the backseat.  The game ended with Indiana nursing a 3 point lead & trying to stop Miami from hitting a game-tying buzzer beater.  The final shot came & who took it?  Wade?  Nope.  Surely LeBron, right?  Na uh.  Mario Chalmers, who finished the game 2-10 shooting, took the final shot that he failed to sink & Indiana was going home, managing to steal 1 game away from the Heat in Miami.

Before we go to the smaller stories of the day, let's analyze what exactly happened at the end of this Pacers/Heat game 2.  Tough game, full of physical play & comebacks.  Any team would feel good coming off the floor with a win.  Once Chalmers missed his final shot, a number of Pacers began to celebrate on the court in front of the Miami, err..faithful, if you can call them that.  Fist pumping, chest bumping, & cheering from Paul George, Danny Granger, & Darren Collison were pretty prominent.  The Heat took notice.  Some condescending reactionary comments from Wade, LeBron, Udonis Haslem, & Chalmers were given & it left this sports fan a bit perplexed.  This is the same Heat team that screams & pounds their chest after every big play.  This is LeBron who used to dance before games & do choreographed stunts with his teammates.  The very same team who provide the NBA with the gaudiest & flashiest live presentation of a game in all of sports, creating a party like atmosphere in their arena.  All of a sudden, they have an issue with celebrating?  Me thinks the Heat are being a bit hypocritical.  The fact of the matter is this; the Heat, with their over the top attitudes & bigger than life image, give other teams the motivation to celebrate.  When you beat a team as arrogant as them, you want to rub their face in it.  They're the bullies who do all the pushing, but when they get pushed back, they run off & tell the adults.  Last year you were telling your fans to "Fan up," Miami, seems like it's time for you to man up.

And This Happened...

Toronto Blue Jays player, Brett Lawrie gets tossed out of game - Believer it or not, I watch other sports besides basketball.  Brett Lawrie, the 3rd baseman for the Toronto Blue Jays, was facing Tampa Bay's closer Fernando Rodney in a 1 run game in the 9th inning.  He had Rodney in a 3-1 count & an outside pitch, which was borderline, was called a strike by home plate umpire Bill Miller.  Fair enough, even though Lawrie had already begun his stride to 1st, thinking it was a walk, he came back for the 3-2 pitch.  It was a close pitch, could have gone either way.  The next pitch, it seems as though Miller didn't like Lawrie prematurely going to 1st, as he called strike 3 against him on a ball that was well above the strike zone.  It was a pitch that didn't seem to ever be in the strike zone at any point, but Miller called strike 3, as once again, Lawrie had already begun going towards 1st assuming it was a walk.  Lawrie stopped in his tracks & let loose into Miller, screaming at him, as his manager John Farrell ran from the dugout to try & take the heat for Lawrie.  Farrell didn't quite get there fast enough as Lawrie spiked his helmet to the ground & it ricocheted & hit Bill Miller on the side.  Arguing & getting tossed from the game is one thing, but when you make physical contact with the ump, namely with another object, you're looking at quite a hefty fine & suspension.  While I agree Lawrie certainly had something to chirp about, he should probably get his anger checked out so this type of thing doesn't happen again.  The Rays ended up winning the game & as Miller walked off the field, he was met with a cup of beer from a Blue Jays fan.

David Wright & manager Terry Collins get into shouting match in dugout - The Mets were down big at home against the Milwaukee Brewers when their reliever D.J. Carrasco was tossed from the game for intentionally beaning the 2011 MVP Ryan Braun.  Baseball has a lot of unwritten rules, stating how players should & should not react in any given situation.  One of them says this, if you hit one of our players, especially if it's a star one, then we hit one of yours.  An eye for an eye, if you will.  Terry Collins, the manager of the Mets, knew this & in the bottom of the 7th, after the plunking of Braun, he pinch-hit for his star player, David Wright.  Wright, who is batting .408 (good for best in the majors) was none too happy about the substitution.  Collins was protecting his player, trying to make sure he didn't have to get nailed with a 90+ MPH baseball, but Wright didn't want any part of it.  The two of them could be seen arguing in the dugout & after the game, Wright gave his side of the story.  He wants to be a leader for the team, this is evident, as he talked about how he just wanted to take the hit & have it be over.  Collins probably made the correct call, to be honest, seeing as how Wright has been so injury prone in his career, if you've got a choice between letting him get hit by a pitch & not being hit, you gotta try & protect him.

Terrel Suggs & Jason Peters could be losing some money - Terrel Suggs, last year's Defensive Player of the Year for the Baltimore Ravens, will likely miss the upcoming season as he recovers from his partially torn Achilles.  Suggs claims he could be back in October, but that remains to be seen.  Jason Peters, an All-Pro offensive lineman for the Eagles, also tore his Achilles this past offseason & subsequently re-injured it, needing a 2nd surgery.  Besides the Achilles similarity, both of these guys have another thing in common.  They got injured doing "Nonfootball" things.  What that means exactly is this; the Eagles & Ravens can decide to put these guys on the PUP (Physically Unable to Play) list, which would require them to, at the very least, miss the first 6 games.  Both teams can then decide to not pay their players their salaries for each game, as they both hurt themselves training outside of the regulated facilities of their NFL teams, which is a breach of contract.  The CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) actually states that the teams could just not pay either guy for the whole year for their violations, but they have both played so well for their teams that this really isn't in consideration.

NBA playoffs continue tonight - The Los Angeles Lakers got absolutely TORCHED by the Oklahoma City Thunder in game 1 of their 2nd round matchup.  OKC dominated the Lakers, including a 39 point 3rd quarter, en route to a 119-90 win.  A statement game, to say the least.  Kobe & company are going to have to come out with a hell of a lot more fury in game 2 because the Thunder know they have them on the ropes & unless the Lakers punch back quickly & forcefully, this series could be over sooner, rather than later.  The 76ers managed to tie the series against the Boston Celtics with a game 2 victory & now we're a few short hours away from the pivotal game 3.  It's a simple case of a youthful  team in Philadelphia playing with an inordinate amount of confidence after knocking out the best regular season team in the NBA in the 1st round & a very old & banged up Boston Celtics team looking to make 1 final run.  Whoever wins game 3, I think, will go on to win the series.