Call It: Race for the #1 Seed in the East

[Andrew]

Slightly more interesting than the race for the eighth spot in the East is the battle for the top seed between the Heat and Pacers. If last year's Eastern Conference Finals is anything to go by, the team with home court advantage could be the one that ends up moving on to the NBA Finals. So, who's your pick?

[SoF'nAwesome]

Pacers. No Heat show this season, they are just too tired

[shadowgrin]

Pissers.

[Andrew]

I'm going with the Heat myself. Both teams have stumbled a bit in the last month or so, but the Pacers seem to be more out of sorts right now. Should hopefully be a great game in a couple of days though, with the top seed on the line. Kudos to the folks in the NBA front office who worked out this year's schedule.

[Martti.]

Gotta go with the Heat, the Pacers have really struggled, especially Hibbert and George, neither is playing like an All-Star, Hibbert has 5 rebounds in his last 3 games ffs.

[NovU]

Pacers. I think the league wants it so do people. It's gotta go down so the ECF is more epic.

[Lamrock]

These teams play we each other later this week, for the one seed most likely. While I'm not too concerned about Indiana's recent slide and approve of Vogel benching his starters, Miami is just the better team.

[NovU]

Miami is just the better team.

I don't know if this is necessarily true. Last season, I'd have agreed (though the playoff series was a close one). But this season, it's entirely different. I'd say the Pacers improved from last season while the Heat have regressed. The gap between these two teams definitely has closed in. The Heat are 1 year older and unhealthy as ever, and hasn't found the real rhythm with Oden neither w/ Beasley. It's all LBJ or nothing, more so than ever before. The Pacers are opposite. Their core players are young and energetic, arguably just reached their prime.

There have been a lot of rumour how the Pacers players are unhappy with each other though (primarily involving Roy & Lance). Perhaps that explains their recent struggle and benching. It's probably nothing Vogel can't sort out.

[Kevin]

Well, Miami vs Pacers tonight. I think the Pacers will clinch the #1 spot in the East tho.

[Andrew]

Competitive game so far in the early going.

[SoF'nAwesome]

Homie NovU took a bad to to say Pacers is the better team

But from an overall look at this season, Pacers is the better team. It's just that they are going through a rough patch.

Miami win without a sweat. Hibbert the best defensive player in the NBA

Pacers have a game with OKC and Miami doesn't have any tough games ahead. So, this might have been it for the #1 seed.

[Kevin]

Hibbert, I think only had 1 rebound. Oh well.....

[Andrew]

Pacers did snag the top seed back on a tiebreaker, percentage points in front after their win over the Thunder. It may still come down to the tiebreaker yet.

[Kevin]

Indiana won vs OKC so I guess they're in the 1st spot again

[Alpha_]

Heat concedes. No three-peat this year. lol

[erudain]

Heat threw the game away against Washington to get the easier opponents on the playoffs.....now they are praying to all the gods Bulls don't get the 3rd seed

[Andrew]

I'm guessing they're feeling pretty confident in themselves at this juncture, as having home court advantage was huge for them in the postseason last year and it's not something to forfeit lightly. That's not to say they can't win on the road of course, but it could well be a deciding factor. Still, with nagging injuries and the Pacers owning the tiebreaker, there's merit in the tradeoff.

[NovU]

What the Heat fans are saying at the moment is that... unless there's a game 7, homecourt advantage is not really an advantage.

[[Q]]

so the Pacers are burnt out?

[Andrew]

I'm not sure that either team is at the very top of their game heading into the postseason. I'd still favour them to face each other in the Conference Finals, but it seems less of a lock than it did earlier in the season. Upsets are always possible of course, but it doesn't seem quite as far-fetched to suggest that possibility now.