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Pacers Show Resilience In Grabbing Game 2 Against The Heat

May 25, 2013  ·  2:45AM

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MIAMI – This feels different.

The Indiana Pacers were in this same position last year, tied 1-1 with the Miami Heat and heading back to Bankers Life Fieldhouse with home-court advantage in their back pocket. They took a 2-1 series lead that time, before dropping the next three games to the eventual champs.

But these aren’t the same Pacers. They’ve grown up, evidenced by the resilience they showed in their 97-93 victory over the Heat in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals on Friday.

No matter how good the Pacers looked against the New York Knicks in the previous round and how close they were to winning Game 1, you probably didn’t see this coming.

The Heat’s worst game of the previous series was Game 1, after a similarly long layoff. And as easily as they got into the paint on Wednesday, the were never clicking on all cylinders offensively, committing too many careless turnovers and unable to get their 3-point shooters on track.

The Pacers, meanwhile, could have been deflated after the disappointment of Game 1. They could have been bitter after Frank Vogel took Roy Hibbert off the floor for the final two defensive possessions and after answering countless questions about that decision over the last 48 hours.

They could have got too wrapped up in the officiating after whistles early in the second quarter went the Heat’s way and helped the champs erase a double-digit Indiana lead. They could have watched LeBron James drain buzzer beaters and block seven footers and thought that there was no beating the best player in the world when he’s having one of those nights.

They could have seen the ball in James hands with the game on the line on two straight possessions in the final minute and wondered how they could stop him.

The Pacers overcame all of that, answered every Heat run, hit big shots, and stopped James on both of those possessions to walk away with a much-earned victory.

“They had great plays, but we didn’t waiver,” Hibbert said. “A lot of times, teams just start buckling, and we’ve been through the wringer before. We’re young guys, but we know what we’re doing.”

This was a complete performance. Offensively, the Pacers scored 97 points on just 86 possessions. The Heat’s aggressive defense kept them from getting into their offense quickly or consistently, David West struggled from the field, and they got basically nothing from their bench. But they found ways to score.

Paul George (22 points, six assists, 9-for-16 shooting) ascended one more step toward stardom, consistently beating his man off the dribble, throwing down the dunk of the playoffs on Chris Andersen, and hit a plethora of big shots. Roy Hibbert scored a career-playoff-high 29 points, using his size in the post and on the glass, while also showing some finesse as a roll man. And George Hill (18 points, 6-for-8 shooting) was aggressive as the ball-handler on those pick-and-rolls, something the Pacers desperately needed.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra will tell you that a playoff series comes down to which team can best impose its own identity on its opponent. And the Pacers remained true to their style, playing physical both offensively (getting to the line 32 times) and defensively.

The Heat were somewhat efficient (93 points on 87 possessions), but for the second straight game, looked nothing like the No. 1 offense in the league. James scored 36 points, but didn’t get much help and he coughed the ball up on those two spotlight possessions with the Pacers leading 95-93.

This time, Hibbert was on the floor. While Vogel had his reasoning for sitting the 7-foot-2 center at the end of Game 1, he might never make that same decision.

“As soon as we came to the locker room the other night,” Vogel said, “I told the team we tried that way, but he’s going to be in there.”

More important than Hibbert’s presence was the defense his teammates played on the two pick-and-rolls the Heat ran, the defense that was lacking in Game 1.

On the first play, West (who was the main culprit in a lot of the Pacers’ Game 1 defensive breakdowns) stopped James’ momentum and held his containment until George was able to recover. And when James tried to get the ball back to Ray Allen, West got his hands on the pass.

On the second play, George fought through Mario Chalmers‘ screen, basically needing no help from his teammates and stopping James in his tracks before he could get to the basket. And when James saw Allen open on the other side of the floor, West again stepped in front of the pass.

“We stayed in front of him,” George said. “We knew that if it was going to happen, it was going to happen on a tough shot, a contested shot. Everybody was in the gap ready to help each other. That is how we play defense.”

And that was how they played defense most of the night. Rather make an adjustment to the way the Heat was running it pick-and-rolls in Game 1, the Pacers knew they just had to defend better. And they did just that, containing those pick-and-rolls while not letting Miami’s shooters get free.

This is why the Pacers were the No. 1 defensive team in the league. And this is why this year feels different. Until they lose four times, the Heat are still the best team in the league. But they have a serious challenge on their hands, and the Pacers will fly home on Saturday knowing that they’ve been the better team over the first two games.

“This whole team is showing great desire and great heart and great belief,” Vogel said. “They believe we can win this series.”

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Posted in 2013 Conference Finals: Pacers-Heat, 2013 NBA Playoffs / No Comments /

Pacers Must Stop Heat’s Paint Parade

May 24, 2013  ·  10:55AM

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MIAMI – It’s another game day on Biscayne Bay, so it’s well past time to put the Vogel/Hibbert thing behind us. It’s done with, the Pacers proved that they can hang with the Heat, and they have another chance to steal home-court advantage in Game 2 on Friday (8:30 p.m. ET, TNT).

Besides, more concerning than the two layups that LeBron James got with Roy Hibbert off the floor in the final 11 seconds of overtime were the other 56 points in the paint the Heat scored in Game 1, 2 of which came with Hibbert on the floor.

The 60 points in the paint were almost twice as many as the Heat averaged (30.7) in three regular season games against the Pacers and, appropriately, were the focus of the Pacers’ film session on Thursday. The Heat shot 11-for-42 from outside the paint on Wednesday and committed 21 turnovers, but still had a solid offensive game (103 points on 97 possessions), because they were able to get to the basket so often against a defense that has typically protected it better than any other team in the league.

“We got to keep them off the glass,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said Thursday. “We got to keep them out of transition more than we did. And we got to clean up our coverages in the half court, so we don’t allow so many straight-line drives at the rim like we did [in Game 1]. And I think we can do that.”

Though there was that example of James getting an and-one when the Pacers failed to get back after a dead-ball turnover, the Heat registered only 11 fast break points on Tuesday, a not-so unacceptable amount given the Pacers’ nine live-ball turnovers. And Miami’s 16 offensive boards (and 24 second-chance points) were mostly a product of those “straight-line drives at the rim” forcing the Pacers’ bigs to help and rotate. So if the Pacers can curtail those, they’ll be in decent shape in Game 2.

The problem is that the Heat have James, the trump card to any adjustments a team might make. Still, there are some adjustments to be made, because the Heat ran their offense a lot differently in Game 1 than the New York Knicks did in the conference semifinals.

Though many of their possessions eventually turned into isolations, the Knicks did run a lot of pick-and-rolls. But they mostly ran them at Roy Hibbert, without much variation. With Hibbert’s man acting as the screener, he was able to pose a threat to the man with the ball, while also staying within reach of his man rolling to the basket (who was still in front of him).

The Heat didn’t run many pick-and-rolls at Hibbert, instead using a guard or David West‘s man as the screener and leaving Hibbert’s man on the baseline, forcing Hibbert to make a decision between the guy attacking the basket or his man behind him.

“They had a more intelligent plan against Roy Hibbert than New York did,” Vogel said. “It was effective last night and we got to adjust to it.”

Of course, the Heat’s plan wouldn’t have been a huge issue for the Pacers if West was able to contain the ball-handler better than he did.

Here’s an example where Chris Bosh sets a high screen for James, who is able to get around West.

james-bosh_p&r_1

At this point, both West and Sam Young (James’ defender) are trailing the play. James goes straight at Hibbert, gets the big man to leave the floor, and dumps the ball off the Chris Birdman, who throws down two of his 16 points.

There were countless examples in Game 1 of West getting burned on pick-and-rolls. In fact, on the very next play, James goes right by West with his left hand. He misses a scoop shot that Hibbert contests, but Andersen is right there to tip in the miss.

Another wrinkle that the Heat used was running a lot of pick-and-rolls toward the baseline, instead of toward the middle, something the Knicks had a little success with in the last round, but probably didn’t try often enough.

The Heat ran it quite a bit in the fourth quarter and overtime, mostly with Norris Cole as the ball-handler and Shane Battier (being defended by West) as the screener.

Here, West doesn’t get totally burned, but Cole uses a little in-and-out dribble move to get to the basket and draw Hibbert’s help.

baseline

Cole could hit Bosh, who is wide open in the corner here, but the advantage of the ball being on the baseline is that the defense is turned inside-out and defenders have to turn their heads away from their man. That’s exactly what Lance Stephenson does, and Dwyane Wade takes advantage by cutting to the basket. Cole dishes to Wade, who hits a short floater over West.

When West overplayed that toward-the-baseline pick-and-roll, Norris Cole went the other way, drew Ian Mahinmi‘s attention, and got Birdman another dunk …


West carried the Pacers’ offense in the first half on Wednesday and finished with 26 points. But he was largely responsible for many of the Heat’s points on the other end of the floor. And if Indiana is going to keep Miami out of the paint in Game 2, it has to start with his containment on pick-and-rolls.

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Posted in 2013 Conference Finals: Pacers-Heat, 2013 NBA Playoffs / Comments (5) /

Heat’s D Exposes Granger’s Absence

May 23, 2013  ·  8:22PM

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MIAMI – This is where the Indiana Pacers really miss Danny Granger.

Despite the absence of one of their best players for all but five games this season, the Pacers took a step forward. They became the No. 1 defensive team in the league, have advanced a round further than they did a year ago, and just might have what it takes to knock off the defending champs.

Paul George has stepped into Granger’s go-to-guy shoes and Lance Stephenson has stepped into a starter’s role, enough that we sometimes forget that this team is missing a former All-Star who averaged 21.6 points over the previous five seasons.

But the Pacers did regress offensively without Granger, falling from ninth in offensive efficiency last season to 19th this year. They’ve overcome his absence thus far, but this may be the time when his knee injury hurts the most.

The Miami Heat are an aggressive defensive team on the strong side of the floor, looking to deny the post, trap pick-and-rolls and force turnovers. That in itself is an issue for the turnover-prone Pacers, but if they can move the ball successfully to the weak side, they can get open shots.

The problem is that the Pacers don’t have anybody on the weak side to really take advantage of the Heat’s aggressiveness. Their best 3-point shooters are George and George Hill, who are the guys handling the ball on the strong side.

Stephenson is most often the guy left open from beyond the arc, but he’s a career 30-percent shooter from 3-point range. He missed all five of his 3-point attempts in Game 1 on Wednesday (including one that could have given the Pacers a six-point lead with 1:21 left in overtime) and has missed his last 10 threes, going back to Game 4 of the conference semifinals.

The Pacers could ask Stephenson to run more pick-and-rolls so that George or Hill is on the weak side, but Stephenson is often very passive on high pick-and-rolls, rarely forcing the defense to rotate with penetration.

Granger has shot 38 percent from 3-point range over his career. Though he shot 1-for-10 from beyond the arc in Games 1 and 2 against the Heat last year, he made 11 of his next 23 treys and would obviously be a bigger weak-side threat than Stephenson. Not only that, he’d be another ball handler who could free George or Hill on the weak side.

“It’s a factor,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said of Granger’s absence on Thursday. “You got to be able to shoot the ball from the weak side against this team that loads to the strong side. So I think Danny Granger would have a profound impact on a series like this. But we got guys who have gotten the job done all year.”

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Posted in 2013 Conference Finals: Pacers-Heat, 2013 NBA Playoffs / Comments (50) /

Commence The Torching Of Frank Vogel

May 23, 2013  ·  2:38AM


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MIAMI – Indiana Pacers coach Frank Vogel has called Roy Hibbert “the best rim protector in the game.” That same Vogel took that same Hibbert off the floor on two critical defensive possessions late in overtime of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday.

The result? Two LeBron James layups and a 103-102 Miami Heat victory in overtime. Commence the torching of Vogel.

Vogel is very good at his job, the architect of the No. 1 defense in the league. But on more than one occasion in these playoffs, he has been caught over-coaching. This isn’t the first time he’s sat Hibbert on a late-game defensive possession, but it’s the time that decision came back to really bite him in the rear end.

Indiana was in position to steal Game 1 and home-court advantage in the series. Paul George got them to overtime with a 32-foot bomb at the end of regulation and, after James’ first Hibbert-less layup, got them a one-point lead with three clutch free throws with 2.2 seconds on the clock in OT.

After the Heat called timeout, Hibbert was on the floor.

I repeat, Hibbert was on the floor. And it was just one possession earlier when James beat George Hill off the dribble and got a layup because Hibbert wasn’t on the floor.

But Vogel looked at Miami’s lineup and called his own timeout, for the sole purpose of replacing Hibbert with Tyler Hansbrough. Over-coaching 101.

“That’s the dilemma they present when they have Chris Bosh at the five spot and his ability to space the floor,” Vogel said afterward. “We put a switching lineup in with the intent to switch, keep everything in front of us, and try to go into or force a challenged jump shot.”

Vogel’s fear was that, if Hibbert stuck by the basket to protect the rim, Bosh could free up a teammate with a screen or knock down an open jump shot.

The Pacers did switch as the Heat set multiple screens on the inbounds play. But when James caught the ball at the top of the key, George closed out a little too hard. The Heat had the floor spaced well, so when James blew by George, there was no one in position to help or protect the rim. James laid the ball in with his left hand and the buzzer sounded.

Game over. Opportunity lost.

“Obviously, with the way it worked out, it would have been better to have Roy in the game,” Vogel said. “But you don’t know. If that happens, maybe Bosh is making a jump shot and we’re all talking about that.”

And maybe if Hibbert was on the floor and James just scored over him, we’re talking about the Heat’s offensive mentality. After attempting 11 mid-range shots in the first quarter (and only five from the restricted area), they attempted just 13 mid-range shots (and 31 from the restricted area) over the remaining 41 minutes.

They didn’t let Hibbert’s presence keep them away from the rim. They smartly attacked the Pacers’ defense both from the middle and from the baseline, drew Hibbert’s attention, and dumped the ball off to cutters for layups and dunks.

“We’re an attacking team,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “It takes a great commitment and effort to be able to do it together, to get our attack. So you play a very good defensive team like this, you might not necessarily get it on the first option of your attack. And you have to have the poise and patience to work your offense, get to the proper spacing, move bodies, and have those opportunities in the paint.”

(Someone send that quote to the New York Knicks.)

“The first quarter, it was more of taking the first available look,” Spoelstra continued. “And a lot of times, it was that pull-up or long jumper.”

After averaging just 30.7 points in the paint in three regular season meetings against the Pacers, the Heat had almost twice that (60) on Wednesday. And all of their biggest buckets of the night came at the rim, including a Dwyane Wade layup over Hibbert in the final minute of regulation and a Bosh put-back over Hibbert in the final minute of OT. So it’s not as if Hibbert was stopping everything.

But you have a much better chance of protecting the rim with Hibbert on the floor than with him on the bench. In his 12 minutes off the floor in Game 1, the Heat were 9-for-12 in the restricted area and just 1-for-9 elsewhere. And if the 7-foot-2 guy is in the game and protecting the rim on that final possession, you can certainly live with the elsewhere.

Hibbert was obviously disappointed afterward, but he had his coach’s back.

“I could see why Coach wanted to take me out,” he said. “With 2.2 seconds left on the clock, they can throw it to Bosh and I’m over-committing in the paint and he can hit a jump shot. My mentality is always to protect the rim. I wish I was in there, but I have complete faith in Coach’s decisions.”

If the situation comes up again, the decision might be different.

“I would say we’ll probably have him in the next time,” Vogel said.

The Heat have now won 46 of their last 49 games. Opportunities to beat them do not come often. Vogel can only hope that there is a next time.

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Posted in 2013 Conference Finals: Pacers-Heat / Comments (152) /

Pacers Must Keep Miami Role Players From Making A Strong Impact

May 21, 2013  ·  12:08PM

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HANG TIME NEW JERSEY – Part of the Indiana Pacers’ success in the conference semifinals was keeping New York’s shooters in check. They knew that the Knicks were at their best when they were knocking down threes and, except for a flurry in the third quarter of Game 6, really did not allow themselves to get beat from beyond the arc.

With Paul George defending Carmelo Anthony one-on-one and Roy Hibbert protecting the rim, the Pacers’ other defenders were able to stay at home on the shooters.

That strategy is obviously more difficult when you replace Anthony with LeBron James and then throw Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh into the mix, but the Pacers still want to keep their opponent’s role players under wraps.

We remember James and Wade combining for 70 points in Game 5 of last year’s conference semifinals, but other than that 40-point explosion, the four-time MVP hasn’t had a really big scoring game against the Pacers over the last two years. Wade, we know, is banged up and looks only able to score in bursts here or there.

Consider the three games the Heat and Pacers played this season. James, Wade and Bosh had similar production in all three contests: 66 points on Jan. 8, 58 on Feb. 1, and 60 on March 10. And it was when their teammates came through with another 45 points that the Heat got their only win of the season series.

Heat offense vs. Indiana

Jan. 8 Loss FGM FGA FG% 3PM 3PA 3PT% FTM FTA PTS eFG%
Bosh, James & Wade 24 46 52.2% 5 7 71.4% 13 18 66 57.6%
Others 4 22 18.2% 3 12 25.0% 0 0 11 25.0%
Total 28 68 41.2% 8 19 42.1% 13 18 77 47.1%
Feb. 1 Loss FGM FGA FG% 3PM 3PA 3PT% FTM FTA PTS eFG%
Bosh, James & Wade 21 44 47.7% 1 3 33.3% 15 21 58 48.9%
Others 12 26 46.2% 4 11 36.4% 3 3 31 53.8%
Total 33 70 47.1% 5 14 35.7% 18 24 89 50.7%
Mar. 10 Win FGM FGA FG% 3PM 3PA 3PT% FTM FTA PTS eFG%
Bosh, James & Wade 25 41 61.0% 1 3 33.3% 9 13 60 62.2%
Others 13 27 48.1% 6 11 54.5% 13 18 45 59.3%
Total 38 68 55.9% 7 14 50.0% 22 31 105 61.0%

Now, poor defense had a lot to do with the Feb. 1 loss, and Bosh’s nine field goals from outside the paint had a lot to do with the March 10 win. But with the way the Pacers defend and with the way the Heat is set up to succeed, it makes sense that Miami is most dangerous when the “others” are making shots.

Looking beyond the three games against Indiana, the Heat are 43-3 when players other than James, Wade and Bosh scored at least 37 points. Now, there’s a garbage-time factor there, but they’re also 33-2 when Mario Chalmers has scored nine points or more and 29-2 when Shane Battier has scored eight points or more. Neither of those guys plays a lot of garbage-time minutes. Chalmers scored 26 points in the win over the Pacers.

Oh yeah, the Heat are 31-0 when they hit at least 10 threes.

Erik Spoelstra has been saying for a while now that he wants his shooters “hunting down shots.” Not only is three greater than two, but threats from the outside help open things up for James and Wade in the paint.

As was the case against New York, the Pacers don’t want to give shooters much space. They can do that for the most part in the Heat’s half-court offense, and the key might be transition. Three of Chalmers’ five 3-pointers in that March 10 game were generated by secondary breaks, where the Pacers simply didn’t get to him in time.

So the Pacers’ defensive success may come down to their offense. If they can avoid too many live-ball turnovers and maintain floor balance, they can get back in transition, stop Miami’s attackers and get out to the shooters.

And really, the shooters might be more important than the guys with the big names.

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Posted in 2013 Conference Finals: Pacers-Heat, 2013 NBA Playoffs / Comments (18) /

Stan Van Gundy Won’t Coach Next Season

May 21, 2013  ·  9:08AM



HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – Go ahead and cross Stan Van Gundy off your coaching wish list, NBA general managers and decision-makers.

The former Orlando Magic and Miami Heat coach told Orlando radio station SportsTalk1080 this morning that he will not return to the sideline for the 2013-14 season. His decision quashes the dreams of fan bases from Cleveland to Atlanta and several other outposts where coaching searches are in full swing.

(Listen to the full interview here)

Van Gundy said he has not interviewed with any teams, though he had been contacted by several about their vacancies.

His announcement takes one of the prime coaching candidates off of the market before things get really cranked up during NBA free agency in July.

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Posted in HT News / Comments (21) /

Pacers, Heat Both Learn From ’12 Series

May 20, 2013  ·  7:03PM

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Learn from the past or risk repeating it.

That’s sound advice always — the sort of wisdom that saves people from going on second blind dates and reveals how an NBA playoff contender can fix what ailed it in a previous series.

That’s the hope, anyway, of the Indiana Pacers, facing the Miami Heat in the East bracket for the second time in as many postseasons. They’ve been hard at work since eliminating the Knicks Saturday night, breaking down video and plumbing the results of their loss in six games in the conference semifinals last May.

The teams met three times in the 2012-13 regular season and those games are relevant, too (Indiana won the first two meetings, Miami the last). But the style of playoff ball is different and so is the schedule, facing the same foe over and over. By the end of Miami’s Game 6 victory on May 24, a genuine dislike and legit rivalry had been cemented.

It was the starting point for the three meetings this season, and it will serve as backdrop for the four-to-seven the teams play over the next two weeks.

“It’s going to be a beast,” Miami forward Chris Bosh said the other night.

Here are some takeaways from the 2012 showdown:

* No Bosh: The Heat’s talented, occasionally maligned power forward suffered a strained abdominal muscle in the first half of Game 1 and was done for the series. Miami actually trailed when Bosh exited, then won that game, but it did seem to help a Pacers squad that already was seen as having an advantage up front.

Sure enough, in Games 2 and 3, the Pacers’ two victories, they outrebounded Miami by 26. In the four they lost, they were beaten on the boards by a combined 19. Indiana forward David West didn’t have to contend with Bosh’s extended shooting range, and scored more points and shot more free throws than anyone in the series not named LeBron James or Dwyane Wade. Center Roy Hibbert averaged 12.3 points and 11.5 rebounds, personal playoff bests.

The Heat’s most effective lineup a year ago included Joel Anthony. Now he hardly plays because Chris (Birdman) Andersen gives Miami energy, toughness and solid passing (and OK finishing) skills. And because Bosh is healthy and helping. Bosh is averaging a career playoff low 13.2 ppg, but that means nothing to him within the context of his and his team’s ambitions.

“I’m here to play a specific role and be what this team needs me to be,” Bosh said after the semifinals ouster of Chicago. “I’m not trying to have a big head, get to an ego problem, then think I’m too big for my britches and not want to change my role.”

Just playing, period, is important. He wasn’t too comfortable watching Miami slip behind 2-1 in games and 54-46 halfway through Game 4.

This time will be different, Bosh said. “I was really looking forward to that series and I didn’t get a chance to play. Hopefully this time around I can stay healthy, first of all, and put my imprint on the series like I wanted to last year. That’s why you stay patient and wait. I’ll get my chance, they’ll get their chance and everybody will be happy.”

Well, not everybody. (more…)

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Posted in 2013 Conference Finals: Pacers-Heat / Comments (76) /

Verbal Shots Fired In Heat-Pacers Series

May 20, 2013  ·  6:37AM



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  • Eastern Conference finals — Pacers vs. Heat: Series Hub

HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – You have to give Indiana Pacers coach Frank Vogel credit. He’s never changed his style. He’s confident, fearless in what he’s willing to say publicly and has the utmost confidence that his team will back him up in any fight he picks.

So when he makes what seems like a harmless statement:

“It’s exciting, but this is not about getting back at Miami. If you’re in the final four you’re competing for a championship. And they’re just the next team that’s in our way. That’s how we’re approaching it.”

… as he did late Saturday night after the Pacers clinched their date in the Eastern Conference finals against the defending champions, he knew his words would catch the attention of the Heat, and LeBron James in particular.

Verbal shots have been fired in this series and they don’t tip-off for Game 1 until Wednesday night in Miami (8:30 p.m. ET, TNT). The response was swift. James took the bait, arguing that:

“We’re not just another team. I don’t understand what he’s saying. But we’re not just another team. That’s not true. He said we’re just another team in their way. We’re a great team. If we’re just another team, you really don’t prepare for just another team. You have to prepare for us.”

The buzz over the words these men spoke reached a fever pitch Sunday and Vogel took to Pacers.com on Monday morning to issue a statement that somewhat recants his position, saying the following:

“Sorry sports world, the words ‘just another team’ never came out of my mouth,” he said. “Great respect for LBJ and the champs. Looking forward to [a] great series.”

But as we all know, the words are already out there.

Vogel’s mission for Game 1 is complete. This is the same tactic he used before the Heat and Pacers squared off in the conference semifinals last season, earning himself a $15,000 fine for calling the Heat the “biggest flopping team in the NBA.”

Using a trick utilized by some of the coaching greats of the past, Vogel has effectively drawn the Heat’s ire before any elbows are exchanged, before any hard fouls are delivered. That bodes well for us, the folks who get to watch these two teams battle for the right to represent the East in The Finals.

It should be noted, however, that in each of the last two times when the Pacers picked this fight, the Heat humbled them. They were up 2-1 in the conference semifinals last year and the Heat stormed back to win three straight games and eliminate the Pacers. And earlier this season, after the Pacers had already claimed two victories over the Heat, they faced off in what was supposed to be a showdown game March 10 in Miami between the top two teams in the East, and the Heat stroked the Pacers 105-91 behind 26 points from Mario Chalmers.

The anticipation is building for Game 1 and a series that promises to give us more than just words.

Vogel seems ready for the test.

LeBron and the Heat, too.

“We’re ready for whatever,” James told reporters Sunday. “I believe it’s going to be like last series. They’re going to try to put me on the floor, maybe. Be physical with me, maybe. I don’t know. Every team kind of does the same thing. They kind of read what everyone else talks about [and say], ‘You have to beat up the Heat to beat them.’ We’ll see what happens.”

Time to get it on!

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Posted in 2013 Conference Finals: Pacers-Heat, HT News / Comments (346) /

Flattened Last Year, Stephenson Is Flattener Vs. Knicks

May 19, 2013  ·  2:02AM


INDIANAPOLIS – A year ago, Lance Stephenson was comic relief and the Indiana Pacers’ resident knucklehead. Twelve months later, he is as serious as a flagrant foul and the single biggest reason the Pacers eliminated the New York Knicks in Game 6 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series Saturday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Last May, Stephenson was the Indiana deep reserve, all raw talent and immaturity, who got caught by the cameras making a choke sign when LeBron James missed free throws in Game 3 of the teams’ playoff series. James ignored him, in the moment and when asked about him later. But a couple of his Miami teammates weren’t so detached; Juwan Howard got into a verbal confrontation with Stephenson before Game 4 and backup big Dexter Pittman seemed to be on the floor late in Game 5 for the express purpose of flattening him (Pittman winked to the Heat bench after the hit across the young Pacers guard’s throat).

Now, it’s Stephenson doing the flattening. Not quite all growed up but making a mad dash in that direction, the 6-foot-5 kid from Brooklyn – from the same Lincoln High that produced the likes of Stephon Marbury and Sebastian Telfair – did New York’s NBA team wrong. He grabbed the game at both ends – grabbed it by the throat, one might say – and scored nine points in the first quarter to ignite Indiana in a game it couldn’t squander, then nine more (in not quite seven minutes) in the fourth when it mattered most.

His 25 were a career playoff high but then, just about everything Stephenson does this postseason is a career high, given how unused he was previously. Twice in the first half, Stephenson snagged rebounds and raced downcourt, going end to end through New York’s defense for buckets.

In the fourth, he picked off a pass by Carmelo Anthony and finished with a three-point play that broke a 92-92 tie. Next time down, he drew Tyson Chandler‘s sixth personal foul and hit two free throws. After an Anthony jumper made it 99-94, Stephenson backed his way first through J.R. Smith, then through Anthony for another layup. It wasn’t over, except that it was.

“Unbelievable,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. “He’s got no playoff experience whatsoever, but he’s got some of the best basketball instincts I’ve ever been around. There’s an old phrase – he’s a gamer.

“He’s not always going to look good. He’s not always going to be in the right spots defensively. … But you put him in a situation like this – Game 6, closeout game – the kid’s got a lot of guts and great basketball instincts.” (more…)

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Posted in 2013 Conference Semis: Knicks-Pacers / Comments (58) /

Pacers Up 3-1, But Knicks Still Dangerous

May 16, 2013  ·  11:08AM

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NEW YORK – The Miami Heat are waiting.

The Indiana Pacers know they have what it takes to challenge the defending champs. In Paul George, they have a guy to guard LeBron James. In Roy Hibbert, they have a guy to protect the rim. They have the size to take advantage of the Heat on the glass. They won the season series, 2-1.

But the Pacers have to take care of business against the New York Knicks first. Only eight teams in NBA history have come back from a 3-1 deficit to win a series, but the Knicks might not be an easy opponent to keep down.

As bad as things have looked for New York over the last two games — and they’ve looked really bad — this is a dangerous team. The Knicks ranked third in offensive efficiency in the regular season and we saw a glimpse of their potency in Game 2.

At the same time, we saw how bad the Pacers can look offensively. Turnovers, bad spacing, missed shots. It was all there. Over the course of the four games thus far, the Knicks (who were a below-average defensive team) have held them under a point per possession.

The Pacers’ defense has been terrific in this series, particularly in Game 4, when the Knicks tried to throw the kitchen sink at them. But it’s been terrific because there’s been no let-up. It takes both effort and focus to defend on that level, and it would be easy to think a Game 6 at home allows Indy to not bring their best in Game 5 on Thursday (8 p.m. ET, TNT).

Written on the board in the Knicks’ locker room after Game 4 was, “Win one, change everything.” And that might be right. New York is desperately searching for answers right now, but if they can find them on Thursday, it could get the ball rolling.

All you have to do is look back to mid-March, when the Knicks had lost four straight and 10 of their last 16 games. Their offense was in a funk, having scored less than 90 points per 100 possessions during the four-game losing streak. Carmelo Anthony was out and J.R. Smith was struggling.

Then, in Utah, Mike Woodson made a lineup change. The Knicks broke out of their slump, won 13 straight games and pulled ahead of the Pacers in the standings.

Woodson is likely to go back to the lineup that sparked that run — with Pablo Prigioni in the backcourt — after going away from it in Game 4. Nothing will come easy against the Pacers’ defense, nothing looks good when the shots don’t go in and the Knicks must find a way to keep Indiana off the glass. But small-ball is how the Knicks won 54 games this season and how they got past the Boston Celtics in the first round.

If they’re going to send this series back to Indiana, the Knicks must remember how they got here.

If they’re going to finish it in five, the Pacers need to do the same.

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Posted in 2013 Conference Semis: Knicks-Pacers, 2013 NBA Playoffs, HT News / Comments (23) /

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