For the Indiana Pacers, the game was theirs for the taking. Dwyane Wade fouled out. They won the free throw and rebounding battles while forcing 21 Miami Heat turnovers. Yet when the final buzzer sounded and LeBron James’ layup gave the Heat a 103-102 overtime win in Wednesday night’s Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Indiana was left sulking and stunned while asking themselves “what the hell happened?”
“It just felt like everything was in our favor,” Pacers forward Paul George said. If Indiana, as expected, gets eliminated in the league’s semifinal round, the team will undoubtedly be kicking itself for not taking this game on the road.
So what the hell happened? Forget about the Pacers leaving Roy Hibbert out of the game on the final play in overtime, which will be widely covered and discussed in other articles and forums. Indiana was soundly defeated at its own game. How else could you explain the frontcourt-loaded Pacers being outscored by 12 in the paint, 60-48?
ESPN Stats & Info pointed out that Miami averaged just 30.7 points in the paint against Indiana during the regular season, but nearly doubled that total in Game 1.
ESPN Stats & Info
There are still more questions Indiana has to address after its series-opening defeat. How could LeBron James have more rebounds (10) than Hibbert (9), David West (5) and George (4)? If Indiana is such a strong defensive team inside, how could Chris Bosh and Chris Andersen combine for 33 points on 13-for-18 shooting from the floor?
Indiana is supposed to be an excellent defensive team at every position, yet it was Miami’s perimeter defense that proved to be superior. How else could you explain the starting Pacers backcourt of George Hill and Lance Stephenson combining for 12 points on 4-for-19 shooting?
“Two great teams just throwing punch for punch,” Indiana coach Frank Vogel said. “Our spirit is very high, very confident. We know we can play with this basketball team.”
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If Indiana wants to have a puncher’s chance in this series, the team also has to stop the star players not named LeBron. Namely, Wade and Bosh. Despite fouling out, Wade had a really strong effort, scoring 19 points on 9-for-15 from the floor to go with six rebounds, five assists and three steals.
| Wade & Bosh | FG % | Points | Reb | Assists | FTA |
| Playoff Avg | 46.3 | 25.9 | 12.1 | 6.3 | 5.9 |
| Game 1 | 57.7 | 36 | 8 | 6 | 10 |
For a team that prides itself on its defensive play, it allowed Wade and Bosh to shoot 11 percentage points better than its playoff average and score 10 more points.
There were, of course, a lot of things that Indiana did well. Otherwise, they would not have come so close to taking Game 1 on the road. Hibbert, George and West combined to shoot 24-for-41 from the field with a total of 72 points. Tyler Hansbrough canceled out Andersen’s production by scoring 10 points on 5-for-8 shooting, while getting six rebounds in just 12 minutes. Perhaps he needs more time on the floor. Indiana held Norris Cole and Ray Allen to six total points on 2-for-12 shooting.
Despite all those things that the Pacers were successful in doing, there are several key corrections they need to make going forward. There’s no way Indiana can be successful by being outscored in the paint. Hill and Stephenson need to contribute offensively, and the team has to reduce its number of turnovers; it was 20 in Game 1 and a woeful 16.2 per game this postseason. That won’t fly against a team as good as Miami. It’s also going to be difficult to contain bench players like Allen, Cole and Shane Battier all series long, but Indiana has the defensive stoppers to limit the production of Wade and Bosh.
Indiana certainly came close to taking Game 1, but there’s still a ton the team has to do to avoid losing this series in four or five games.
Shlomo Sprung loves advanced statistics and the way they explain what happens on the court. He is also the web editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. A 2011 graduate of Columbia University’s Journalism School, he has previously worked for the New York Knicks, The Sporting News, Business Insider and other publications. His website is SprungOnSports.com. You can follow him on Twitter.
perhaps frank vogel’s worst coaching mistake has been his utilization of TYLER HANSBROUGH since the arrival of DAVID WEST in the 2012 shortened season. the year before, TYLER averaged more than 18 ppg in the 2nd half of season when he became a starter along w/PAUL GEORGE. HANSBROUGH’S spectacular play led the PACERS to the playoffs for the first time since the REGGIE MILLER days. yet, w/the arrival of West, TYLER’S playing time and involvement in the offense while on court began a precipitous decline which continues to the present vs the heat in the eastern conference finals. while not suggesting TYLER should be starting over West, his playing time should be increased to at least 20 mpg and, his scoring potential should be utilized much more than now. w/his penchant for getting fouled and hitting 15 ft jumpers along w/ability to score inside, vogel should force team mates to involve him in the offense. although his outside shooting ability seems to have disappeared, it’s easy to understand why: mike wells of the Indy Star, certainly not one of TYLER’S supporters, best explained his shooting woes by stating he was a rhythm player and being in the game now for usually 3-5 minutes at a max, he was not able to establish the rhythm he so obviously needs. consequently, HANSBROUGH’S confidence has suffered immensely and, his shooting problems continue. also, during his very brief stints in the game, he hardly ever is included in the offense, even when vogel has occasionally called plays for him. D.J. AUGUSTIN, it seems, loathes the idea of passing to T.H. and prefers passing to opponents and, i’ve NEVER seen D.J. pass him the ball while he was wide open under the basket, after a good pick and roll move, or on the break. to TYLER’S corps of haters, i remind them of his 2011 performance in the 2nd half of season and during the 4 game absence of injured DAVID WEST this year when T.H. started: the team had 3-1 record, and, he averaged a double-double in 3 of the games. although totally cognizant of the greatness of WEST, something must be done to alleviate this misuse of TYLER HANSBROUGH next year and, it’s my hope he goes elsewhere if WEST doesn’t go to the clippers to play w/old pal chris paul.