INDIANAPOLIS — Miami will be shorthanded. Indiana will not.
Yet it's the Pacers who could be facing the biggest disadvantage heading into Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series in Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Thursday.
Danny Granger, the team's leading scorer and primary 3-point threat, will start with the intention of playing his usual share of minutes, but his effectiveness could be severely hampered by the left ankle he sprained in Game 5.
"This game's too important so that's pretty much it. I'm playing" Granger said. "With an ankle sprain you're always limited. The good thing about a game is adrenaline kicks in. I'll take some painkillers and hopefully my mind will kind of forget about it. That's the game plan. . . .
"There's not much you can do. We'll just have go with it and see how it goes."
Though Miami will be without reserve big men Udonis Haslem and Dexter Pittman, both suspended by the NBA for flagrant fouls in Miami's 115-83 blowout win Tuesday, neither has as much potential as Granger for impacting the game.
If Granger cannot play effectively, it would not only put enormous pressure on the Indiana defense to find a matchup for LeBron James, it would cripple an offense in desperate need of a perimeter threat to create spacing for big men Roy Hibbert and David West to exploit their size advantage.
Haslem has provided a nice spark off the bench for Miami, producing 24 points on 10-of-12 shooting in the past two games, but Pittman has been a nonentity.
"I think Haslem being out really hurts them more than people realize," Granger said. "In Game 4 he made a lot of big shots for them down the stretch. Now they'll be pretty much small the whole game and we have to use it to our advantage. When they started (Shane) Battier on David West, he got in foul trouble and we couldn't take advantage of it. But this time we expect to be able to take advantage of it with our post players."
Granger said he expects James to put unusual pressure on him early to test the soundness of his ankle and his ability to move.
"Logic would tell you he would," Granger said. "He's been in attack mode anyway and I'm sure he'll be in even more of an attack mode, being that I'm limited. But I'll rise to the challenge."
In response to the suspensions, Miami coach Erik Spoelstra accused the Pacers of taking numerous head shots at both James and Dwyane Wade in both the regular season and the playoffs.
"In nine games now there's been over a dozen hard fouls too the face, some of the tomahawk variety, some of them have drawn blood," Spoelstra said. "They don't have a problem with it, so we don't have a problem with it. Our guys will continue to attack. They'll play their game and we'll focus on what we can control tonight, and that's the game."
Vogel vehemently disagreed with Spoelstra's claim.
"In no way, shape or form have I ever suggested we hit anyone in the head — ever," he said. "And I would argue that we hit them in the head 12 times."
It all sets up what could well be the most contentious, physical game of a contentious, physical series.
"We're all interested in playing basketball. We're not interested in anything else, anything more than that," Vogel said. "What happened happened. That's not the way the game's meant to be played. We're just interested in playing hard, physical, clean basketball. I think that's what both teams are interested in doing."
