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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.
