2013 Eastern Finals: Miami Heat (1) vs. Indiana Pacers (3)

[SoF'nAwesome]

You should add "to me" to that sentence

[_Steve_]

You should add "to me" to that sentence

That's not necessary as it is universally valid.

[hova-]

Got to love that Paul George dunk. I really like how this guy is developing. As I said before in the All NBA team thread, he reminds me a lot of Scottie the way he is playing. Not as good for sure, but just the type of player he is: solid defense with long arms, very athletic, able to hit the three and dunk on people. In the same way not an unstoppable scorer but also a passer.

About LBJ: He is carrying this team and mistakes will happen. I'd rather have him throw away the ball away in the end then not wanting it at all. He's grown so much since the Dallas finals. I am still a Heat hater, LBJ + Wade hater, but those TOs can happen to anybody, also the best player in the world.

[NovU]

Got to love that Paul George dunk. I really like how this guy is developing. As I said before in the All NBA team thread, he reminds me a lot of Scottie the way he is playing. Not as good for sure, but just the type of player he is: solid defense with long arms, very athletic, able to hit the three and dunk on people. In the same way not an unstoppable scorer but also a passer.

NBA.com is already on it, Pippen Comparison.
http://stats.nba.com/featured/paul_geor ... 05_24.html
"As George continues to emerge as a star in this league, we took a look in the stats archive to see if there was a proper comparison for an elite two-way player this early in his career. The answer is Scottie Pippen -- the Hall of Famer who helped lead the Bulls to six titles alongside Michael Jordan.

Turns out that George's offensive numbers compare nicely to Pippen in his first three years, both regular season and playoffs (see below for the numbers). George and Pippen are similar in size, have the ability to guard anyone from point guards to power forward, and are both All-NBA defenders. Pippen got his first of ten All-Defensive team selections in his fourth year, George got his first in his third year."

About LBJ: He is carrying this team and mistakes will happen. I'd rather have him throw away the ball away in the end then not wanting it at all. He's grown so much since the Dallas finals. I am still a Heat hater, LBJ + Wade hater, but those TOs can happen to anybody, also the best player in the world.

Right. I'd say that's what happens, if you ask too much from any player. Rest of the team went something like 3 for 12 while LeBron was 5 for 6. And he scored 10 while rest of the team 9 in fourth iirc. He obviously needs help from teammates. I don't know how ppl can ask from a single player for more than what he's done tonight.

[SoF'nAwesome]

That's not necessary as it is universally valid.

Guess I have been living on the "other place" then...

It's funny how people start bringing up shit from the past just based on this one game. Nobody spoke when LeBron was clutch as fuck on the last game. But that's just the way it is.

About LBJ: He is carrying this team and mistakes will happen. I'd rather have him throw away the ball away in the end then not wanting it at all. He's grown so much since the Dallas finals. I am still a Heat hater, LBJ + Wade hater, but those TOs can happen to anybody, also the best player in the world.

Ah! Only if the majority of the people had this wisdom.

[Mandich]

Terrific game, terrific dunk. Great performance by Lebron, shame he keeps choking.

[SoF'nAwesome]

Terrific game, terrific dunk. Great performance by Lebron, shame he keeps choking.

lol ya man last 2 seasons he just "kept" choking, right?

[Stress Fracture]

Well LeBron occasionally chokes. But yeah, most of the time, he's clutch.

[Sauru]

holy shit was i wrong. i figured the heat would crush them in game 2 and the pacers would look back at a blown chance to do something this series. hell they still might cause going home up 2-0 would have been very nice for them

[_Steve_]

I was pretty sure that Heat would win game 2 too.
What really surprises me is how much the Heat's bench sucks compared to most of the regular season.
Meanwhile LeBron's keeps shooting at a phenomenal fg%. Despite his two turnovers whithin the final minute, he did his share of work but most of his teammates didn't. Seems like Wade is far from what he did last season...

[Stress Fracture]

Is Wade still being bothered by the knee he injured? He kinda lost his explosiveness.

[_Steve_]

Is Wade still being bothered by the knee he injured? He kinda lost his explosiveness.

It almost looks like that. He definitely get's less isolation plays as usual...

[Mandich]

Terrific game, terrific dunk. Great performance by Lebron, shame he keeps choking.

lol ya man last 2 seasons he just "kept" choking, right?

Who said anything about the last 2 seasons ? He did turn the ball over 2 times in the last moments of the game and does choke every now and then. Learn to read.

[NovU]

Is Wade still being bothered by the knee he injured? He kinda lost his explosiveness.

It almost looks like that. He definitely get's less isolation plays as usual...

Yes. Issue's been always there since the opening day of the playoffs. 10 days rest after the first round didn't really improve anything, suggesting that no enough rest would give his knees a full life(Needs draining/surgery perhaps?). To back it up, he even missed bunch of practice before this very series. I don't think any Heat are expecting him to be at 100% for the rest of the playoffs. I personally thought Ray Ray could have filled the void somewhat well, but defensively, he's been exploited, and offensively he's been way off. Thus, we still need Wade to play, as 1/2 of his greatness is still greater than what other Heats can offer.

Difference is that we have been winning with ease regardlessly if LeBron plays at high level. But against the Pacers, he's been asked to do more and in fact, answered by providing more. But the result isn't anywhere you'd want it to be. Because the Pacers aren't just any other team.

[hova-]

Not to forget that the Heat - with their positionless smallball - just have problems against teams who have big man/bangers inside like Hibbert and West. Spoelstra is praised for making the Heat a small ball team as it works against many teams because good big men have become rare.

Pacers, Grizzlies and Spurs could be tough for the Heat though seeing how Hibbert is dominating the paint in this series. Very interesting to see how the Heat will handle that.

[Mandich]

Because the Pacers aren't just any other team.

[NovU]

hova, you make a great point(otherwise for Heat hatez time to time).

Not to forget that the Heat - with their positionless smallball - just have problems against teams who have big man/bangers inside like Hibbert and West. Spoelstra is praised for making the Heat a small ball team as it works against many teams because good big men have become rare.

Pacers, Grizzlies and Spurs could be tough for the Heat though seeing how Hibbert is dominating the paint in this series. Very interesting to see how the Heat will handle that.

Absolutely. It's like a problem is not a problem until you lose. Heat Small ball has been widely praised all season long because we won it all last season and been winning the whole season. Small ball earned a reputation to give teams trouble, when it was simply more of LeBron and cos playing to their talent. I remember addressing issues of Battier/LeBron playing heavily at PF at the beginning of the season, also last season. But ultimately small ball did it last year, and couldn't find a decent big at a decent price. Birdman is great, but he's a stretch four at best and isn't really a size compared to Grizzlies/Pacers frontcourt. Ofc, we've beaten the Pacers last season, but this Pacers without Granger is actually an improved Pacers.

I still believe we're one or two players short of showing up to take this series. But it's with LeBron playing like he has been so far. Tough tough series. Only going to get tougher in the Finals.

[Jackal]

holy shit was i wrong. i figured the heat would crush them in game 2 and the pacers would look back at a blown chance to do something this series. hell they still might cause going home up 2-0 would have been very nice for them

When I read your "Heat will crush them because they are outmatched" comment I shook my head, I think the Pacers match up the best with the Heat out of all teams in the East. In my opinion I'd like SA to advance to the finals against the Heat because then we'd get to watch Leonard matched up on Lebron. Well, actually I hope Pacers beat the Heat in 6.

The Pacers would be seriously awesome with a better ball handling point guard and a wing player who could spread the floor, Lance Stevenson is erratic as hell, every time he got the ball I was like oh shit. This series is very exciting!

Holy damn has Paul George been amazing. That guy is a lot of fun to watch.
Paul George's dunk:

[SoF'nAwesome]

Who said anything about the last 2 seasons ? He did turn the ball over 2 times in the last moments of the game and does choke every now and then. Learn to read.

Well, last two seasons aren't a part of your "he keeps choking" part? Yes, I know what he did in game 2. I don't think you can say right now that "he keeps choking" just based on that game 2. This season or the previous season, he hasn't done anything constantly to get the term "keeps choking" used on him.

"Does choke every now and then" & "keeps choking" isn't the same thing. But then again, I need to "learn to read".

[MJALLDAY]

I was pretty sure that Heat would win game 2 too.
What really surprises me is how much the Heat's bench sucks compared to most of the regular season.
Meanwhile LeBron's keeps shooting at a phenomenal fg%. Despite his two turnovers whithin the final minute, he did his share of work but most of his teammates didn't. Seems like Wade is far from what he did last season...

It's still early in the series,their bench was awesome against the Bucks and Bulls. The Heat's bench overall is damn good. Battier, Allen and Norris Cole all could be starters elsewhere. Andersen has been great and even the guys who don't play (Lewis & Miller) have been starters for most of their careers. The only thing that's missing is a decent big man. I still think they have a better bench than the championship Bulls teams.

[_Steve_]

I was pretty sure that Heat would win game 2 too.
What really surprises me is how much the Heat's bench sucks compared to most of the regular season.
Meanwhile LeBron's keeps shooting at a phenomenal fg%. Despite his two turnovers whithin the final minute, he did his share of work but most of his teammates didn't. Seems like Wade is far from what he did last season...

It's still early in the series,their bench was awesome against the Bucks and Bulls. The Heat's bench overall is damn good. Battier, Allen and Norris Cole all could be starters elsewhere. Andersen has been great and even the guys who don't play (Lewis & Miller) have been starters for most of their careers. The only thing that's missing is a decent big man. I still think they have a better bench than the championship Bulls teams.

Don't get me wrong. It's because the bench consists of high caliber players like Allen, Andersen and Battier, that I do not understand why they can't deliver. Battier bailed them out last year and played a phenomenal season too, but keeps stinking right now. Ray Allen is pretty much ineffective scoring wise. The Birdman is one of the few gleams of hope for the Heat.
As far as your comparison with the Bulls' bench(es) go: Tony Kukoc was a really good versatile player and you can't argue that Steve Kerr and Graig Hodges had a great shooting touch. Same counts for BJ Armstrong. The rest was a (in most parts) solid bunch of role players (Randy Brown, Simpkins, Wennington, Scott Williams etc.). So as much as I love the 90ies Bulls, you are probably right with your assumption that many of the Bulls role players would have never been starters for any NBA team.

[hova-]

Oh well guys, don't overrate that bench. I don't see Allen, Andersen, Lewis or Miller starting for any playoff calibre team. That's just not right. Battier maybe, but he is also getting older, has nothing to offer on offense except the corner three. Norris Cole is still inexperienced and has no three point shot.

It all depends on the team's system though, since the Spurs bench also does not have starting calibre players at all, but as a team they manage to get the best out of everyone.

[NovU]

Our bench include role players. The team is still structured to win with LeBron and Wade playing like superstars while Bosh provides inside presence. Besides, in the playoffs, rotations are shortened with your starters getting heavy minutes. You don't go too deep into the bench. But give Spoeltra credits, he went to Joel, and Miller who didn't even last 1 quarter w/o getting injured. Because Allen was being exploited defensively and became a deadweight offensively(missing 3s). Also because Battier gets pushed around at PF position against the Pacers frontcourt. It's the reason why birdman needs starter minutes in this series(game 2 foul trouble tho).

[SoF'nAwesome]

Decrease Wade & Bosh minutes, increase Norris & Andersen minutes. Also, give Miller some minutes in real life games. He has the microwave signature.

[NovU]

No, sir. We need Wade because Allen has been even worse. Less than 100% Wade is still better than Cole, Allen, and Chalmers.

We also need Bosh. Haslem's not gonna cut it. And last season, you saw what happened against the Pacers without Bosh.

Bosh needs to step up and grab more than couple reounds per game. Wade needs to have one great stretch per game and be little more consistent on both ends.