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
With defensive tenacity and a punishing, menacing front line, the Indiana Pacers have reached the Eastern Conference finals. But if vanquishing the New York Knicks in six games seemed like a tall task, their path to the NBA Finals seems preposterously gargantuan in comparison. To defeat LeBron James in his prime and the Miami Heat in a best-of-seven series is akin to defeating a Michael Jordan-led Bulls team in his prime. James is the best player in the world. He has several
Moving past the obvious in Miami’s Game 2 triumph How do you push past the obvious insight about Miami’s all-around 115-78 beatdown of Chicago in Wednesday night’s Game 2? What can you say besides the Heat shooting 60 percent to 35.5 percent for the Bulls? Let’s break down the major things that changed on both sides that helped lead to such a different result in Miami’s favor: Miami’s Big Three was way more efficient in Game 2, perhaps with more determination and urgency in
What goes into winning the prestigious NBA Coach of the Year award? Do you have to have the best record in the league? Do you have to defy the preseason odds of your team not making the playoffs? Must you overcome the absence of injured star players? Like most awards in the NBA, there are no standard guidelines as to why someone deserves votes moreso than others, and this makes it rather difficult for the writers to determine who the very
Many will attribute Miami’s 93-86 Game 1 loss to Chicago on Monday to the seven days of rest the Heat had between its first and second round series. Can we blame the loss on Miami being “rusty,” “over-rested,” or given too much time between series, being punished for quickly finishing off the Milwaukee Bucks a week ago? “There’s no excuses,” said Miami Head Coach Erik Spoelstra, whose team had not played in more than a week. “We’re not making any excuses
If I had to rank the top four players in the NBA at the current moment, my system for ranking those players would look a little something like this: 1. LeBron James 2A. Kevin Durant 2B. Chris Paul 2C. Carmelo Anthony If any other team than the Miami Heat or San Antonio Spurs win the NBA Finals at this point it will seem like a big surprise across the league. They are the two teams with the most experience not only in the playoffs, but
For so long, much too long, he had not been The Jet. He had been The Dreamliner, batteries not working, grounded, under repair, embarrassed, a symbol of excess spending and not enough due diligence. Jason Terry’s first season in Boston had been his worst, statistically, since his rookie year of 2000-01. Little had gone right. This was not what Terry or the Celtics had envisioned. He was the guy who was going to replace Ray Allen. He was a scorer off the
MIAMI – The 12-0 run. That was all it took to separate the men from the boys in the Miami Heat’s 98-86 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks in Tuesday’s Game 2 of their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series at AmericanAirlines Arena. And two bench players – forward Chris Andersen, a.k.a. the Birdman, and guard Norris Cole – led the way. Not LeBron James, not Dwyane Wade and not Chris Bosh. “It’s not surprising,” James said. “That’s what they bring, that’s what our bench