They're still a secret.
Had
the Pacers been able to take advantage of Miami big man Chris Bosh's
injury in Game 1 of their East semifinal, plenty of folks would be
chattering about them. Instead, as is often the case, people ended up
talking about Heat stars LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.
When Bosh
was lost for the second half with a lower abdominal strain, it didn't
look good for the Heat. They had been playing lethargically and were
down by six. But James scored 26 of his game-high 32 points and grabbed
nine of his season-best 15 rebounds after intermission, and Wade had 16
of his 29 points in the second half as the Heat won 95-86 at
AmericanAirlines Arena.
"We knew that when Chris went down, we got to turn the switch …" Wade said. "And we got to be very aggressive."
Meanwhile,
the Pacers became passive. Despite a big size advantage, they ended up
being outrebounded 45-38, including 24-16 in the second half.
"We definitely let this one get away," guard Paul George said after his Pacers were outscored 53-38 in the second half.
The
Pacers might have another shot to take advantage of it in Tuesday's
Game 2. While more will be known after Bosh has an MRI, abdominal
strains can linger. Orlando guard J.J. Redick missed the final 17
regular-season games in 2010-11 with one.
Bosh, who was off to a
great start with 13 points and five rebounds, was hurt with 1:06 left
in the first half when he drove past Hibbert to throw down a dunk and
came down hard on his left foot. Bosh, who was fouled by Hibbert,
remained on the ground for short period. He then hit his free throw for a
three-point play to cut Miami's deficit to 48-42.
After going
back on defense, Bosh made a move and went down again. He was replaced
with 43.6 seconds left in the half by Ronny Turiaf, who started the
second half after Bosh was ruled out.
"He was in a little bit of
pain going into the locker room but we won't know until we get an MRI,"
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
Heat forward Shane Battier
spoke to Bosh briefly after the game and said he was "obviously
disappointed." James expressed hope it's "nothing too drastic."
"Any
time a teammate goes down, there's always concern," Wade said. "He just
made an unbelievable move. You saw the look on his face and you knew
something was wrong there."
If Bosh has to miss game time and the Heat are down to the Big Two, James knows how important he and Wade will need to be.
"If he is going to be out, I expect for our minutes to go up and, of course, our scoring may have to go up as well," James said.
However,
the Heat gained plenty of confidence with the way they played against
the bigger Pacers without Bosh. Reserve centers Turiaf, with four points
and three rebounds in 10 minutes, and Joel Anthony, with nine points
and seven boards in 24 minutes, proved quite capable.
And that
East No. 2 seed the Heat have sure is looking good now. Can you imagine
the panic in Miami now if the Heat were facing Boston, which would have
been the likely scenario had they moved ahead of Chicago for the No. 1
spot?
Instead, the Heat have to be glad they're facing a young
Pacers outfit that had some ups and downs in a 4-1 win over depleted
Orlando for their first playoff series win in seven years. Nevertheless,
the Pacers were talking tough before the series.
Coach Frank
Vogel led the buzz by calling the Heat the "biggest flopping team in the
NBA." He was fined $15,000 by the NBA on Saturday and had little
comment on it before Sunday's game.
"No. It provided some comic relief," Battier said when asked if Vogel's comment impacted the game at all.
But
could Bosh's injury impact the Heat? It might not as much if James
plays the way he did Sunday after he received his MVP trophy from NBA
commissioner David Stern in a pre-game ceremony he concluded by saying,
"Gracias, Miami."
How good is James? Well, all he had to do was tell himself the Heat needed rebounding due to Bosh's absence.
"I
made a conscious effort in the second half to rebound the ball even
more," said James, who also held Indiana forward Danny Granger to no
points in the first half and just seven for the game on 1-of-10 shooting
after he had been averaging 21.4 in the postseason.
James did
so by playing the entire second half. Spoelstra thought about taking him
out briefly in the fourth quarter before he had a change of heart and
told James, "You just flat-out can't get tired."
Only the Pacers seemed to wilt in the fourth, when they were outscored 25-16. They shot a disastrous 6-of-21 for 28.6 percent.
But Hibbert remains undeterred.
"We're not going to let them walk all over us," Hibbert said. "We're going to keep fighting."
