Playoffs Day 19: Preview of Heat-Pacers and Clippers-Spurs

It has now been 22 1/2 months since LeBron James abandoned his home state to take his talents to South Beach.

He did so in the hope of winning championships with a better supporting cast. What he didn’t anticipate was how much weaker that supporting cast would become if one of the big three were to miss time due to injury, which is exactly what the Heat are going through right now.

Unfortunately for King James, no one is feeling sorry for him, nor Dwyane Wade.

No matter what the situation is, it is win or bust for James and the Heat, so all the pressure will be on them as they head to Indiana after surrendering homecourt advantage in Game 2.

That game, along with the Los Angeles Clippers at San Antonio, are on slate for Thursday night on ESPN.

Miami (1-1) at Indiana (1-1):

After losing Chris Bosh to an abdominal strain, James and Wade have had to shoulder much of the load for Miami as expected. They likely did not anticipate having to carry this much load, however.

James had 28 points while Wade had 24 in Game 2, but everyone else combined for just 23 points. That means the duo scored more than 2/3 of the team’s points, a poor recipe against a much more well-balanced team like the Pacers.

The supporting cast for the Heat were record-breaking bad.

From Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald: “Most call them the supporting cast. Shaquille O’Neal simply calls them the “others.” Whatever term you prefer, this much is clear: With Chris Bosh out, the Heat’s ensemble around LeBron James and Dwyane Wade has not done enough offensively against the Pacers. And that must change for the Bosh-less Heat to thrive as the series shifts to Indianapolis for Thursday’s Game 3. “D-Wade and LeBron will do their jobs,” Mike Miller said. “The rest of us have to find ways to put the ball in the hole.” Excluding Bosh (who played the first half of Game 1), James and Wade, the other Heat players have shot a combined 29 percent — 16 for 55 — in the two games, with 44 points. Game 2 was especially gruesome: 9 for 34 with seven turnovers and two assists. The Heat is 1 for 22 on three-point attempts in this series, though James has seven of those misses and Wade two. Though the defense has been mostly stout, here’s what should alarm Heat fans about the players assembled to complement the stars: Game 2 marked the first time in franchise history that the Heat’s third-leading scorer in a game did not produce more than five points.

After the loss, there were once again many questions about late-game execution and why the best player in basketball wasn’t more aggressive in the final moments of the game. It was Mario Chalmers, not James, who took the final 3-point attempt that missed. Those questions will never cease for the Heat as long as they fail to win games.

At this point, no one is doubting the ability of the Pacers except Sheridan, and no one seems to expect more from the team than themselves.

From Mike Wells of Indianapolis Star: “The Indiana Pacers could be satisfied right now. They beat the Heat in Miami in Game 2 on Tuesday to gain home-court advantage in the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Pacers don’t look at it that way, though. Their sights are set on higher things. They know that Tuesday’s win that evened the playoff series at one game each won’t mean anything if they don’t protect their home court, starting tonight in Game 3 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Game 4 is Sunday afternoon, also at the fieldhouse. “Now the pressure is on us, I think,” Pacers forward Danny Granger said. “Two games on our home court. Home-court advantage is switched in the seven-game series.” It only takes a monster scoring game from LeBron James or Dwyane Wade or a poor offensive showing for the Pacers to lose that edge. But if they hold court, the Pacers know — even though they won’t talk about it — that they’ll be on their way to the Eastern Conference finals. If they get past Miami, they would start the next round with home-court advantage, too.

The expectations were never more evident when David West scowled at his teammates to get off the court when some of them began celebrating the Game 2 victory.

Los Angeles Clippers (0-1) at San Antonio (1-0):

The Clippers have become the team that fights back to win games after losing the first three quarters.

They fought back in Game 1 against a fresh San Antonio team, but there were no miracles against the best executing team in the league. Despite an off-night for Tony Parker, who was held to seven points on just 1-of-9 shooting, the Spurs still won 108-92.

An off-night for Chris Paul proved to be much more costly to the Clippers than an off-night by Parker for the Spurs.

From Arash Markazi of ESPN Los Angeles: “The San Antonio Spurs had just defeated the Clippers 108-92 in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal series, and Paul was still upset at himself for finishing with just six points on 3-of-13 shooting along with five turnovers, five steals, three assists and 10 rebounds. “He don’t know no better,” Paul said of his son. “I got every shot that I wanted and I think that’s the good thing about tonight. I didn’t knock them down but that happens sometimes. This is Game 1; we’re going to go back to the drawing board and see what we did well and see what we didn’t do well and get ready for Game 2.” As upset as Paul was with his performance, there was no real reason to believe the Clippers would beat the Spurs on Tuesday night. Every statistical analysis, historical comparison and logical reasoning going into the game said the Spurs would win and it wouldn’t even be close. Over the past 20 years, when teams playing with six or more days off play a team with one day of rest, they are 8-0 in the postseason with an average winning margin of 21.6 points. The Spurs, coming off an eight-day layoff, also had won their previous 14 games, winning by an average margin of more than 17 points. And the Spurs had lost just once to the Clippers in San Antonio over the past decade, including an 18-game winning streak prior to this season.

One player who could hardly miss for the Clippers while being a demon on the defensive end was guard Eric Bledsoe, who led the team with 23 points on 10-of-16 shooting.

Due to the team’s depth, Parker may not have to do much for his team to succeed. He can still be an effective facilitator to role players such as Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard who combined to score 31 points, including six 3-pointers. He can also rely on a couple of lifelong partners in Tim Duncan who had 26 points and 10 rebounds, and Manu Ginobili who had 22 points off the bench.

From Jeff McDonald of San Antonio Express News: “The Spurs’ Tony Parker made just one more basket than Chris Paul Jr. in Game 1 and missed eight. Yet when Spurs players and coaches insist Parker’s first go-round against Paul in the series was good enough, he doesn’t disagree. “From the beginning of the game, they wanted to take me out, trapping me and forcing me to give the ball up,” said Parker, who turns 30 today. “If they want to use that strategy, I’m pretty confident in my teammates to know they’re going to make shots consistently.” That’s where the respective tasks of the two All-Star point guards diverge tonight. Unless Paul improves his woeful shooting in Game 2, the Clippers stand little chance of evening the series. The Spurs, meanwhile, have already proved they can win by double digits despite a one-basket night from their leading scorer. Though he recorded a playoff-low seven points in Game 1, Parker produced 11 assists, his most in a postseason game since doling out 12 in an elimination loss to Dallas in the 2009 first round. In stretches, Parker was (as L.A.’s Caron Butler calls him) “the maestro,” orchestrating the superb ball movement that helped the Spurs match a club playoff record with 13 3-pointers. “He was important in us winning the basketball game,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “Good players take what’s given and make their teams better. Tony did that.”

James Park is a regular contributor to Sheridanhoops.com. You can find him on twitter @nbatupark.