Great game. Man. If Indy could shoot they'd be a PROBLEM. I like Stephenson. He's a one man fast break. I love how he crashes the boards and pushes the ball up the court. There were a few plays where him pushing it caused some cross-matches in transition that worked to Indy's favor. If he locks himself inthe gym this summer and becomes say a 38% 3t shooter the Pacers offense opens up tremendously. Props to Paul George. He still has sooooo much he can improve but it seems like he has 'it'. Not afraid of the big moments at all. Ridiculous first step. Granger being out for the season was a blessing. The growing pains of him 'being the man' earlier in the season are definitely paying off. I love the fact that he and LeBron are guarding each other. This is what playoff bball is all about. Both sides know what the other is going to do, both sides have an equal level of talent, its all about who executes and who wants it more. He's at Toronto T-Mac level right now. We'll see if his offense develops into being a true go-to scorer but his elite athelticsm means he can get his shot off against anyone. Its easy to rag on Lebron for those two to's at the end of the game, but man, he was EVERYWHERE on defense tonight. They wouldnt even be in the game if it wasnt for him as they have no answer for Hibbert. Two plays that stood out to me were when he blocked that Hibbert dunk off of the rebound and another when he denied David West the ball on Indiana's first offensive option and later swtiched to help on Hibbert on the same play. He's a wrecking ball out there. Chris Bosh had a good offensive game tonight but Hibbert abused him. In all honesty that responsibilty shouldnt be in his. He's a PF. Miami needs a Collison twin or some foreign 7ft stiff just to lean on him and tire him out a bit. That should probably be item one on their offseason agenda. I love the chess match in this series. D-Wade needs to step it up. In fairness, Stephenson played good D on him tonight but he needs to do more. Indy needs to pick up a solid backup point guard in the offseason. Augustin is pretty awful. Sam Young can D up but cant shoot. If Granger comes back somewhere near his previous form they are a serious problem. Great team, top to bottom. Whoever wins this series will have earned it. I'm inclined to say Indiana should win this but I'm not ready to bet against LeBron.
Agreed that Wade is not the Wade of past. But then again, if we are playing the "if" game, if Granger wasn't hurt I think the Pacers would sweep the series.
The Pacers seems to do that to their opposing team this year, they did it against the Hawks and the Knicks in this years playoffs.
Probably is better in the 'how good were they' thread but does Paul George remind people of Scottie Pippen defensively? I never saw Pippen play.
They can sure use that 12 million to get a legit starting point guard and make George Hill their sixth man, his best suited role.
i had a bad feeling when it was 88-84 and there was a 3 play sequence where chris bosh got a wide open 3 and missed, lance stephenson took a terrible 3 and swished it, then ray allen got a decent look from 3 and bricked it. that could have been the sequence that finished the pacers and instead it resulted in the lead getting 3 points smaller. the heat only scoring 2 points in the final 3:22 and lebron's 2 TO's (man, how did west deflect the first one?) finished it off but that was the key sequence of the game. at some point a team that struggles offensively as much as indiana (the way some of their possessions go you can see why) should have an off game. they shot pretty well in game 1 and shot very well in this game. paul george can't be a 41% regular season shooter and 40% playoff shooter by accident. he was making some jumpers today. and at some point you would think allen or battier or the heat team in general will make some 3's. it's not as bad as last year's indy series where i think the heat were 5-42 from 3 in the first 2 games, but 12-40 isn't killing it. are people serious with all of this officiating talk? the pacers nearly won game 1 on a 3 point foul that is NEVER EVER called at the end of games (as someone showed earlier, chalmers got hit last year and didn't get a call because it's never called). i can't imagine the posting flurry that would have followed if lebron or ray allen or someone got that call to try to save the game from an indiana lead. that is one of the biggest swing calls you'll ever see and it didn't go to the team that is apparently benefitting so much from the refs. and in this game the heat got called for 4 more fouls and shot 6 fewer free throws. and with about 5 minutes left, roy hibbert just straight up landed on bosh and didn't get called for a foul. i'm thinking a ref crew trying to give it to the heat might have noticed that one. and yet a decent chunk of this thread seems to think indy is getting hosed.
yes, but then what if Ray Allen, Juwan Howard and Rashard Lewis were who they were in the past? The Heat are full of All Stars.
