NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals Preview: Indiana Pacers vs. Miami Heat

Posted by Spoelstra Heat | Posted on 13-05-2012

Category : Miami Heat, Playoff 2012

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NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals Preview: Indiana Pacers vs. Miami Heat

Previewing the Eastern Conference semifinal series between the Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat.

Biggest strength:

Indiana Pacers: Depth and versatility. The Bulls have a deep team, but they essentially used it the same way. The Pacers, on the other hand, have a deep team that they can deploy in multiple ways. George Hill can play either guard spot to try and challenge Mario Chalmers’ ball-handling or try and hang with Wade. Paul George can defend any spot between 1 and 3. Danny Granger the 3 or 4. Lou Amundson the 4 or 5, especially in this series. The Pacers can throw a lot of looks at the Heat to try and find something that works. The secret is getting it to keep working.

Miami Heat: Defensive superiority. The Pacers are a defensive team, and that means they’re good at defense, but they’re also not good at offense. Miami’s defense is superb, especially at this point, and they can make this into a grind-it-out game for the Pacers, then throw in some transition opportunities. The Heat are fine with a grind out game, because they’re going to find transition points anyway just because of their athleticism. Taking a mediocre offense and running into the side wall is a good way to turn a street fight into a boat race.

Biggest weakness:

Indiana Pacers: Offensive versatility. The Pacers, for all that positional flexibility, don’t have a lot of go-to options. Paul George’s shot has vanished. Danny Granger’s offensive set is as perplexing as ever. Roy Hibbert disappears at times in between solid play. They have one go-to, David West on the pick and pop, but beyond that, the Pacers have to find some things they can rely on to create points against a defense schemed to attack their weak points with help defense.

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By Matt Moore | Senior NBA Blogger

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NBA fines Pacers coach $15,000 for comments

Posted by Spoelstra Heat | Posted on 13-05-2012

Category : Miami Heat, Playoff 2012

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NBA fines Pacers coach $15,000 for comments

NEW YORK (AP) Indiana Pacers coach Frank Vogel will have to pay a $15,000 fine for comments he made Thursday about the Miami Heat.

NBA executive vice president Stu Jackson issued the decision Saturday.

Vogel called Miami the ”biggest flopping team in the NBA” and told reporters that it would be ”interesting” to see how much flopping the officials reward.

Vogel also accused Heat players of sliding over and falling down before contact is made.

The best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals begin Sunday in Miami.

The Associated Press

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Indiana Pacers frontcourt is main concern for Miami Heat

Posted by Spoelstra Heat | Posted on 13-05-2012

Category : Miami Heat, Playoff 2012

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Indiana Pacers frontcourt is main concern for Miami Heat

MIAMI – In facing a sizable frontcourt led by an All-Star center, the easy question is how are the Miami Heat going to adjust to the Indiana Pacers.

The Heat are looking at it from a different view.

How are the Pacers going to handle the Heat?

The only adjustment Miami is planning to make is playing without a traditional center against the Pacers, who feature Roy Hibbert in the middle. The series opens Sunday at AmericanAirlines Arena.

“I don’t really like to make adjustments to suit the other team,” Heat forward Chris Bosh said.

“I like to do what you want and they have to adjust to you. I’ve always believed in that. I think us changing to them means that we’re not being aggressive. If we’re aggressive and really going after those guys, they’re going to have to be the guys to change what they’re doing.”

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was asked before Wednesday’s series-clinching win against the Knicks if he felt comfortable with his rotation at center. Bosh, Joel Anthony and Udonis Haslem logged most of the minutes at the five during the series.

It was enough to overpower the Knicks, but will it work against the Pacers?

Indiana was the league’s fourth-leading rebounding team during the regular season, averaging 43.6. The Pacers out-rebounded the Orlando Magic in the first round by an average of nearly nine a game.

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By SHANDEL RICHARDSON – Sun Sentinel

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Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade says Pacers will be tougher than Knicks

Posted by Spoelstra Heat | Posted on 13-05-2012

Category : Miami Heat, Playoff 2012

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Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade says Pacers will be tougher than Knicks

The Knicks’ size advantage in their power rotation didn’t create any major obstacles for the Heat in the first round.

Now Miami hopes that Indiana’s size won’t be a problem in Round 2.

The Heat must contend with gifted 7-2 starting center Roy Hibbert, a bulldog power forward in David West, a balanced and skilled Indiana starting lineup and a pair of capable point guards. Game 1 at AmericanAirlines Arena is at 3:30 p.m. Sunday on ABC.

“They have a lot of really good parts,” Heat forward Mike Miller said. “They’re playing well, and their size will be a challenge.”

Chris Bosh said the Pacers “are a tough team, have great rebounders” and “are a little more balanced” than the Knicks.

The Pacers will enter the second round as clear underdogs, but TNT’s Charles Barkley predicts they will give Miami “trouble. That Indiana team is going to be very difficult. They are very deep. Danny Granger and Paul George can flat out play.”

Magic forward Glen Davis told The Indianapolis Star that the Pacers “have a chance … if they defend. They are athletic and long enough and have a big bench.”

The Heat won three of the four regular-season meetings, averaging 101.5 points per game while limiting the Pacers to 92.3.

Miami won two of the games by 35 and 15, won another in overtime, and lost one by 15. The Heat held a narrow edge in rebounding (50.5 to 49.8) and a lopsided advantage in shooting percentage (48.0 to 40.4).

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By Barry Jackson / The Miami Herald

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Indiana Pacers match up well against Miami Heat in second round

Posted by Spoelstra Heat | Posted on 13-05-2012

Category : Miami Heat, Playoff 2012

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Indiana Pacers match up well against Miami Heat in second round

MIAMI – The Indiana Pacers are coming this way, for a second-round series that starts at 3:30 p.m. Sunday.

The Heat will try to reverse a trend that, during the season, went the wrong way.

Over the course of four games against Indiana, Miami played four very different variations of coach Erik Spoelstra’s squad. The Heat shot worse and scored fewer points in each successive game of the matchup, while each time allowing more.

The 118-83 win on Jan. 4 was the Heat at its best, even without Dwyane Wade; LeBron James scored 33 with 13 assists, and the Pacers shot 34.8 percent.

The 105-90 win on Feb. 14 was the Heat at its most resilient, romping out to a 35-point lead on the third night of a back-to-back-to-back.

The 93-91 overtime win on March 10 was the Heat at its most cohesive, with James and Wade taking turns making critical plays.

And the 105-90 loss on March 26 was the Heat at its weariest and sloppiest, as Indiana capitalized on a letdown – after Miami’s loss to Oklahoma City – and six James turnovers to pull away in the third quarter.

Now, Miami will encounter a Pacers team that has gained confidence and experience from its first series victory as a group, even if that victory came at the expense of a depleted Magic team.

Indiana will also be a relatively rested team, having finished its first-round work a day earlier than Miami, and having routinely spread minutes throughout a 10-man rotation.

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By ETHAN J. SKOLNICK
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

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Indiana Pacers take preemptive strike against Miami Heat

Posted by Spoelstra Heat | Posted on 13-05-2012

Category : Miami Heat, Playoff 2012

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Indiana Pacers take preemptive strike against Miami Heat

Don King must be the Pacers’ new director of public relations.

A less-than-exciting, second-round series for the Heat took a turn toward slightly interesting Wednesday and Thursday when the Pacers’ All-Star center and then the team’s coach tossed a few verbal jabs Miami’s way. King, the master boxing promoter, would be impressed.

First, Indiana center Roy Hibbert fired off a shot at the Heat when he set in motion the team-vs.-collection-of-superstars narrative.

Then, as if that wasn’t enough pregame trash talk for one second-round series, Pacers coach Frank Vogel took it a step further when he said Thursday that the Heat’s defense is a flop machine.

“They are the biggest flopping team in the NBA,” Vogel said.

Vogel, who finished third in voting this season for the NBA’s Coach of the Year Award, is no doubt preparing league officials for what’s sure to be a physical series.

For his part, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Wednesday that he expects the series to be “played in a cage.” The Heat, which was tied for fourth in the league this season in charges drawn per game (2.3), absorbed seven offensive fouls in its first-round win over the Knicks.

Although wingmen Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Danny Granger will headline the Eastern Conference semifinals matchup, the series could hinge on the battle inside the paint.

That’s where the Pacers command a height advantage with Hibbert at center and David West at power forward.

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BY JOSEPH GOODMAN
JGOODMAN@MIAMIHERALD.COM

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If experience matters, Heat have an edge on Pacers

Posted by Spoelstra Heat | Posted on 12-05-2012

Category : Miami Heat, Playoff 2012

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If experience matters, Heat have an edge on Pacers

MIAMI (AP) Combined, the players in the current Indiana starting lineup have a total of 90 playoff games between them.

LeBron James and Dwyane Wade – each by himself – have more than that.

So if experience matters for anything in this Miami-Indiana matchup in the Eastern Conference semifinals, then advantage Heat, and in a big way.

This is the first trip to the second round for the Pacers since 2005, and of their starters, only George Hill and David West have ever appeared in anything beyond a first-round matchup.

”I know they’re a very good team and I know they have a good inside and outside game and have a few guys who can get it going,” Wade said Friday.

”For the guys that they play, they’re all very talented and they’re very deep.”

The Heat say when they see the Pacers, they don’t see an untried group. They see a team that won 42 games, something only San Antonio, Chicago, Oklahoma City and Miami topped in the regular season.

”They’ve earned it,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

”A lot of teams have talked about circumstances and things that have happened during the course of the year, right or wrong. The Pacers earned it. They were the third-best team in the East at the end of the day, fourth-best road record and the fifth-best record in the league. So despite all the different story lines, they earned that right.”

Game 1 of the best-of-seven is Sunday in Miami.

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By TIM REYNOLDS | The Associated Press

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Paul George gets task of slowing D-Wade

Posted by Spoelstra Heat | Posted on 12-05-2012

Category : Miami Heat, Playoff 2012

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Paul George gets task of slowing D-Wade

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) The Pacers won’t be double-teaming Dwyane Wade. Thanks to Paul George, they don’t feel that will be necessary.

George, a 6-foot-9 guard, made a name for himself last year as a rookie when he challenged Derrick Rose in the first round of the playoffs.

Now, he’ll face Wade, one of the league’s quickest players, in the second round of this year’s playoffs. He’ll get a chance to see how far he’s come, starting with the opener Sunday in Miami.

”I’m going in with the same mindset,” George said.

”He’s a good player, but he’s human. He’s liable for turnovers, and I can just get the pressure and make it tough for him this series.”

George spent most of the first half of last season on Jim O’Brien’s bench. When Frank Vogel took over as coach at midseason, George got more playing time. He wowed crowds with his acrobatic dunks and highlight-reel blocks, creating a buzz with his enormous potential.

George’s success against Rose last year gave him a boost heading into the offseason. He improved his shot, put on muscle and studied.

”For him to grow toward the end of last year and have a strong performance in the playoffs against Derrick Rose, I think, just brought him back this season with a great deal of confidence,” Vogel said.

”He had a number of steps along the way this year where he had strong defensive performances, and quite frankly, in my mind, it puts him among the best wing defenders in the league.”

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By CLIFF BRUNT | The Associated Press

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One test aced, many more harder ones still remain for Heat

Posted by Spoelstra Heat | Posted on 12-05-2012

Category : Miami Heat, Playoff 2012

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One test aced, many more harder ones still remain for Heat

MIAMI – If you were to ask the Magic 8 Ball if the Miami Heat are better than they were a year ago, its response would have to be Ask again later.

The Heat are through to the conference semifinals after dismissing the New York Knicks in five games. But it’s still unclear what Miami can take away from a series against a unique and short-handed opponent.

“We knew that we’d better be on top of our game,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after his team closed the series with a 106-94 victory in Game 5.

“We’d better, not only compete and play at an incredible effort and force level, but we’d better play well, because this is one of the hottest teams in the league, despite a lot of the adversities that they’d been in.”

Yes, the Knicks had the Heat’s attention from the start, surely more than the Sixers would have. Carmelo Anthony is one of the most dangerous scorers in the league, capable of winning a game or two by himself.

But really, the Knicks were a weird team that just finished a really weird season. They had two offense-only stars and a top five defense. They were the streakiest team in the league. And by the end of the series, they were missing their three best guards.

The Heat played terrific defense for most of the five games. They snuffed out the Knicks’ pick and roll and made the league’s best 3-point shooter, Steve Novak, a complete non-factor. They took away the Knicks’ strengths, which is always priority No. 1.

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It’s Heat-Pacers in second round of playoffs, starting Sunday

Posted by Spoelstra Heat | Posted on 12-05-2012

Category : Miami Heat, Playoff 2012

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It’s Heat-Pacers in second round of playoffs, starting Sunday

MIAMI – It will be the Indiana Pacers next for the Miami Heat.

The Pacers eliminated the Orlando Magic 4-1 with Tuesday’s 105-85 victory at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

The Heat ousted the Knicks in five games, as well, closing out the series Wednesday night at AmericanAirlines.

Heat-Pacers opens Sunday at 3:30 at AmericanAirlines Arena, with that series also to be scheduled on a 2-2-1-1-1 basis.

The Heat went 3-1 against the Pacers during the regular season, winning 118-83 Jan. 4 at home, 105-90 Feb. 14 in Indiana, 93-91 at home March 10 and then falling 105-90 March 26 in Indiana.

It is the first time since 2005 the Pacers have advanced to the second round, when their roster included the likes of current TNT analyst Reggie Miller and former Heat center Jermaine O’Neal.

“We feel like this is just the beginning of a big run,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel told reporters after Tuesday’s victory. “We’re excited about where we’re at as a basketball team.”

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By Ira Winderman, South Florida Sun Sentinel

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