The only reason it was inevitable was because the Pacers folded. Their team defense fundamentals broke down completely and allowed LeBron and Wade into the lane at will. A team with better coaching and more disciplined players would have locked into the simple sets the Heat were running, blown them up and forced the Big 2 to shoot more jumpers. Instead, the Pacers completely went to pieces and allowed an iso and PnR clinic to go on like they were test dummies. It's easy to say now after it's over it was "inevitable" the Big 2 would explode. I wanted to believe the Pacers could handle the pressure of having a legit chance to advance, but I hedged for a reason and my reservations were correct. Vogel is young and has a ways to go. He blew their chance in game 4 by letting their bench get scorched too long and it turned the game around. What sense does it make to have 5 bench players in while LeBron and Wade are setting them on fire? Hopefully he learned you don't coach the playoffs like the regular season. Their team also needs some steely-nerved leaders who will rise to the occasion instead of crumbling. George Hill and Darren Collison are both backup PGs not worthy of starting. They have to upgrade that position. Paul George has to become more of an offensive threat at SG and I'm not sure that is going to happen. The idea of him developing into a dominant scorer is a pipedream. He reminds me of Nicolas Batum. At SF, Granger has peaked and if he's their best offensive player, their ceiling is the 1st or 2nd round of the playoffs. At PF, David West is old with one year left and his backup isn't very good. At C, they will be forced to overpay Hibbert this summer. Because of his slowness and lack of athleticism, Hibbert reminds me of shorter version of Yao. My guess is his peak upside is 14/10 over an entire season. To get to another level, Pacers need to shake things up and make some big moves because their current roster won't mature into anything more than what it is now. Paul George is the only guy with much upside.
Those may be simple offensive sets, but they were triggered by 2 of the top 5 players in the game. If it was that easy to slow those guys down, then every team would have the blueprint. Even the greatest defenses will have trouble v. those 2 guys. You can only hope to contain them. Like I said, what you saw in the first 3 games were Lebron/Wade in a mini "slump since the Knicks series, not the Pacers' D. Maybe they underestimated the no-name Pacers team with no stars. Being down 2-1 and having a bunch of no-names talk trash woke them up. I said it from the beginning that the big 2 would go off on this team, even when Bosh went down. I don't get where all this talk that the Pacers is a "great" defensive team at all. If you saw the Magic series, you wouldn't be impressed with this Pacers' team at all. Like I said, I expected at most a 5 game series after game 1, and it most likely would have been the case if James/Wade didn't choke in game 2. Pacers are a good team, and a team that is DEEP. They benefited them in this shortened season and allowed them to have one of the best records in the league. But make no mistake, nobody cared for Indy or thought they were even remotely close to being championship contenders. What they need to get to another level is for George to take that 2-3 steps and become an all-star. Granger is a good player, no more no less. Hibbert has some room for improvement, but he's not going to be a 20/10 or franchise C player. They go as George's growth goes. However, with the East' future bleak (Rose's health, Knicks in shambles), Indy is the only team who can challenge Miami in the next few years potentially.
For a smart team with a good coach, stopping those simple sets (or at least making them very difficult) is not that hard when Bosh isn't playing. It was the same-old, same-old, same-old play-after-play-after-play. The supposedly good defense of the Pacers was exposed. Like you said, if Bosh played it would have been an easy sweep. I think we can end the discussion of how deep the Pacers are. Their bench was burnt to a crisp and didn't help them at all. Hibbert doesn't have much room for improvement IMO. He's tall, mobile, has very poor lateral movement and no hops. He gets the ball knocked out of his so easily it reminds me of Yao. He's also S-O-F-T. At 25, he ain't changing much. Paul George is their future. We'll see how much he improves next year. A lot is riding on him. He doesn't strike me as having the mentality of a dominant alpha offensive player that can take over a game and pull his team over the finish line. I'll be surprised if he ever averages over 20 points/game in his career. Is he a particularly hard worker in the offseason?
Yup this next season will determine whether George will become the next Iggy or potentially a very poor man's Tracy McGrady.
They'll be fine without him and have been, just as I thought. ... "Oh no, think of Chris Bosh! The Heat are done without him! They're gonna struggle to get by Indy! They're gonna struggle with Boston/Philadelphia without him! What are they gonna do without Bosh?!" Yeahhhh.
Well all of that is pointless if can't do it without him in the finals. For their sake hopefully he will be back by then and not limited if he does come back.
They can beat the Boston/Philly winner easily without Bosh. But even with a healthy Bosh, I'd still have them as underdogs against San Antonio and a Miami team without Bosh will get destroyed by the Spurs, 5 games at most.
How well we'll Miami fare against OKC w/o Bosh? Ibaka and/or Perk would be free to defend the basket.
True. However, LeBron and Wade's ability to contort their bodies in midair a la Rose makes it difficult to guard them without fouling them. I think the series will hinge on how well Westbrook does. Also Sefolosha will need to guard Wade extra well since he contributes almost no points on the offensive end.
A good series overall. Wade started to attack, LeBron was LeBron and the team defense went next level. Pacers couldn't handle it.
To say that sounds easy and all, but OKC is not IND. They need Bosh to beat OKC. OKC and SAS are the most complete teams as of right now.
I kind of want to see Wade out for a game and see how LerBon responds on the court. He'll have no choice but show up for all 48 minutes.
I'm not saying it'd be easy for Miami to beat OKC, I'm just saying if Westbrook doesn't take advantage of his matchup against Chalmers (and possibly Wade) it'll be a seven game series. I'm assuming LeBron and Durant will cancel each other out and that Bosh plays decently.
This is like a passive agressive way of taking a shot on LeBron. Just give credit where credit is due... people hatin' just to hate. Check: 40-18-9, game 4. Check: 2007 Cavs, swept but not blown out... Ilgauskas? Drew Gooden? Boobie Gibson? Damon Jones LOL? Donyell Marshall LOL.
