Since LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh gathered together in Miami, they have been beaten in exactly one playoff series. Four times, they have lost game one of a series only to come back and win the whole thing—and it was actually a “five-game sweep” on three of those occasions. In 2011, they defeated Chicago four games to one in the Eastern Conference Finals and then again in 2013 in the Conference semi-final. In 2012, it was OKC in the NBA Finals, and last year the Spurs fell victim to a seven-game comeback to give the Heat their second-straight title.
They might be at it again.
After losing Game 1 to the Pacers (and looking bad in the process), the two-time defending champs evened the series on Tuesday night and took precious home-court advantage away from Indiana in the process. It’s the one variable, having the series’ potential Game 7 at home in Bankers Life Fieldhouse, that Indiana felt could send them to the NBA Finals and, for the moment at least, it’s gone.
So how did the Heat turn things around in Game 2? Simple, they focused on small details and played harder on defence than they did in the series opener. On D in Game 1, the Heat looked like five pylons on the floor. The Pacers shot 51.5 percent from the field as Miami allowed them good looks at the basket while doing their best impression of corner store hold-up victims—you know, standing still with their hands over their heads.
The activity was different in Game 2—markedly so—but the strategy was the same. The Heat still blitzed screen-and-rolls, forcing the ball handler to make a decision under duress, but they were more aggressive and kept their hands active. They put more pressure on the ball, rotated quicker and anticipated where the rock was headed, and the sum total of those improvements pushed Indiana farther from the basket and disrupted the Pacers’ offense. The Heat like to use the phrase “flying around” to describe their defence when it’s clicking. Well, they were flying in Game 2, and it held Indiana to 40 percent shooting from the floor. James also wasn’t forced to spend all night guarding Paul George, which gave him a bit of a break. George, on the other hand, had to work at both ends, as he remains the only Pacers defender even remotely equipped to guard James.
It was the perfect game plan for winning on the road: Keep it close and steal it at the end. The fourth quarter saw the Heat shoot almost 58.8 percent from the floor while holding the Pacers to 7-of-19 shooting (36.8 percent). They grabbed the lead with just over four minutes to go and held on, beating Indiana at its own game by playing better team defence.
Lance Stephenson had a terrific ball game for Indiana, but therein lies part of the problem. While the Heat duo of James and Wade gave life to the adage that “in the biggest games, your best players need to be your best players”, scoring all but three of Miami’s fourth-quarter points, Indiana’s stars struggeld. George gets a pass for failing to perform in the final frame after suffering a concussion on a collision with Wade’s knee as the two scrambled for a loose ball, leaving his status for Game 3 unknown, but George and David West combined to go 9-for-32 on the night. That isn’t going to get it done against a team as good as the Heat.
Although Indiana has plenty of experience facing Miami over the years, there is only so much you can do to game plan for size, strength and quickness. If the Heat are as active on Saturday as they were defensively in Game 2, with solid contributions from Chris Andersen and Norris Cole, and Paul George will have to be both healthy and on his game or the Pacers are in serious trouble.
The nature of playoff basketball dictates that the team without home-court advantage probably has to win two games on the road to take the series. But, if you are the Miami Heat, this is a very familiar situation. Having already stolen one in Indiana, the Heat may be ready to clamp it down, hold court and head to the NBA Finals for the fourth-consecutive season.
It’s your move Indiana.