man the thirstiness for Paul George is at its peak right now. George beats KD in 1 on 1 voting? come on now.
Well, their starters are all over 30 and they only run a 9 man rotation, which is a bit short so early in the season. Compare that to the Heat and you'll see what I mean.
Ehh i remember the using plenty of marquee regular season games and then waxing those same teams in the playoffs. Eg, Bulls, Celtics.
i don't think the pacers will wear themselves down (i don't think the '11 bulls did either), but i think he's talking about the fact that the two teams (bulls/pacers) definitely have a "play hard all the time" mentality, at least it seems from the outside. the pacers are on a mission right now, so 36 "on a mission" minutes are definitely a little tougher on you than the typical heat game 36 minutes for wade or lebron. there's a reason miami has lost to some pretty bad teams so far this season. because they barely shift out of first gear for huge chunks of the game and just assume/hope it will get them through. and it mostly does. but either way, this regular season shouldn't take as much of a toll on them as some in the past. granted, i still think it will be extremely hard for them to win another title. they've been on the ropes each of the last 2 years and at some point they won't come through or another team will just make too many plays. and the fact that they have no answer for indy's size is just a problem no matter what. but the duct tape holding wade together can probably only hold together for so long and the role players aren't getting any younger. they need to take this regular season as easily as possible to store up everything for the playoffs. the pacers are trying to make their mark.
They play OKC really well in every marquee matchup. They didn't really take the Bulls seriously IMO. And the Bulls have some weird regular season magic against the Heat. I don't remember the Heat ever waxing the Celtics in the playoffs. The Heat were better sure but even the 2011 series wasn't really fair with Rondo's broken arm. The Celtics just always played tight games against the Heat. The Heat like making statements. Like when they crushed the Clippers and CP3. The rematch next week should be fun.
2011 vs the Celtics was an ass kicking. Can't really use injuries as an excuse or else you could say the only reason the series was close the following year was due to Bosh being hurt. The Heat are like the 2001/2002 Lakers. They are just coasting. That doesn't make them a lock; just as the Kings were arguably better than those Lakers*, so too are the Pacers against these Heat. However, regardless of the record at the end of the year, the Heat are going to be the favorite. *hopefully if the Heat do beat the Pacers in the playoffs, it's not due to the refs.
Most games were close. Rondo was the Celtics best player and biggest weapon against the Heat as seen in 2012. With Rondo the Celtics definitely win game 4 and its a completely different series. The Celtics in game 5 were winning till the 4th quarter but losing Rondo was just too much. I do completely agree that Bosh being out was a factor in 2012. I personally believe the only team that has matched a full loaded and locked in Heat is the Spurs.
Pacers beat Heat twice last year at home....playoffs are a different story. Heat were dominating early...and it was the Roy Hibbert Show...if Oden can give Heat anything, Pacers are in trouble....without Oden...Heat cannot win a game 7 in Indiana....Beasley has already worked out...Oden's the final piece.
Don't worry about pull up 3. He's a dirk and ponies fan so we take most of his comments with a grain of salt, if anything.
