The clock doesn't run until the inbounds pass is caught, so of course there is time for another pass, catch, and shoot. If Hibbert isn't guarding anybody at all, then Bosh catches the inbounds pass and has all the time in the world to shoot. Granted, that would have been a better option since George screwed up on not staying in front of Lebron, but you want your defense to not give up any open shot. That should include a layup, obviously, but PG screwed up.
Yes, the 16 ties, 17 lead changes that happened BEFORE that, and the last 31 minutes of play where nobody had over a 4 point lead, all of these just didn't happen. Yes, it was total Heat domination just like y'all predicted.
Hibbert shouldve guarded the inbounder...in Battier...if Battier gets the ball back...Hibbert has the length to challenge him...it wasnt like he was gonna run circles around the big man.. I stil dont understand why a 7'2 shot blocking center isnt in the game at a defensive possesion for the Pacers... we all can over think it, but the truth of the matter is that Vogel messed up bad on that play...who cares if he fouls out...he clearly is the tallest player, and has the ability to alter shots just with his pure length.. Just like we used to use Yao to obstruct the view of the inbounder of the ball, Hibbert shouldve done the same for the Pacers last night...that wouldve forced Lebron out even further from the top of the arc.
Hibbert should have been in the game, no doubt. Bad decision by Frank Vogel. There that's done... Now, Hibbert wasn't in the game, Sam Young was. And I have to put A LOT of the blame on him too. He was standing right in the paint and didn't even attempt to contest. I mean he acted like he was going to jump and then I guess he decided he would rather take his chances on James missing a wide open layup. That was incredibly stupid... and I feel like I'm the only one that noticed it.
Dude. Watch the replay, will ya. The Pacers wanted to switch everything and did. Had they not switched they probably would have given up a quick-hitter/alley-oop to Bosh or more likely an open 3 to Allen. If Hibbert had been on the floor, he would have had to switch on Allen curling around to the corner. No way he would have been able to stay with him. Paul George, not Frank Vogel, screwed up here. You simply cannot let LeBron go to the basket that easy in 2.2 seconds.
I don't disagree with sitting Hibbert. With 2.2 seconds left, you're guarding against the jump shot. It's just a combination of Lebron's brilliance and Paul George overplaying that made the last possession possible. EDIT: Exactly my thoughts from Grantland:
I meant one pass AFTER the inbound pass. The point is, once the inbound pass was made, LeBron only had time to either do a couple of dribble and shoot or pass it to an open teammate to shoot. You have 4 guys chasing 4 guys for 2.2 seconds. It shouldn't be too hard to make them rush the shot. Why did it have to be Hibbert guarding Bosh? Put someone on Bosh. It doesn't even have to match Bosh's size. Just someone to make it difficult to make a clean catch and shoot. Leave the inbound passer. If they passed it back to Battier, it would have taken at least one second and Battier would be shooting far away from the basket with only one second left on the clock. If they put Hibbert in front of the basket, it would have taken away the possibility of a driving layup even if someone blew their coverage. People keep forgetting that there's no illegal defense rule. And it was under 3 seconds. Your big man can just stay in the lane playing safety.
So once again, you're happy if the pacers just compete. The bulls competed too. Miami typically plays down to their competition.
Calling time out when he saw the set up was Vog overthinking the situation. And then he pulls Hibbert. Granted, maybe the Heat get lucky some other way if Hibbert is in there, but we all saw how it played out with Hibbert not in there. Big 'L" for the Pacers. You want the game to be over quickly, not call a time-out and give them more time to set up; and if they make an outside shot, they make it, but you don't give up a frickin' LAYUP in a situation like that. The weakside help defender saw James go up but didn't bother to rush forth and foul him - to busy 'covering his man', I guess, as time expired... Everyone needs to play the BALL once Lebron is making his move with little time on the clock. Sometimes the time-out not taken is the magic one. But that's what separates the champs from the also-rans - decision-making, leadership, split-second instincts and plain luck of you doing the right thing and the other guy screwing up.
Indiana didn't lose because of that last position. It wouldn't even get to that if Wade didn't touch George's arm hair on that 30 footer. They actually played well while Miami had an overall subpar game. They lost because the other team is just better.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>U can knee or kick me every time u drive 2the rim. Ill be there 2protect the rim. That wasn't inadvertent. Battier knew what he was doing</p>— Roy Hibbert (@Hoya2aPacer) <a href="https://twitter.com/Hoya2aPacer/status/337681115454263296">May 23, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/J0PGTvvk5wk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Shane intentionally threw an elbow at Hansbrough after being outhustled several times in a row...he also fell down right after throwing it which drew the foul on Hansbrough....
The first game which was really won by the Pacers and then given away, may be too high a mental hurdle to get over. On the other hand, it could be a motivator. "Hey we can play with these guys." We will find out shortly.
Vogel was on Dan Patrick's show today and said his team played very well. His words basically we just need to duplicate this effort minus the high turnovers. And we all know the Heat haven't played well all playoffs.
It's strange to say that Indy won it and the Heat took it away. The Heat had it wrapped up until George hit a lucky 3 point shot. Yes, lucky.
Fine, I should have said, "no extraordinarily exciting game would have happened." It was just a normally exciting game before the Allen miss. Actually I was rooting for the Pacers and they would have lost with the Allen make instead of making the heroics happen after.
