(Photo: Steve Mitchell, USA TODAY Sports)
The Miami Heat has been known for their fast paced, high powered offense, and robust defense. With players like Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh, this team has its place in history with the greats. James is known to be the greatest player in the world at this time but some may say that its only because of the great amount of talent that he has to utilize. This team is now faced with the task of taking on the Indiana Pacers, which have been playing remarkable lately, in the Eastern Conference playoff finals.
The Pacers have major advantages over the Miami Heat due to the big time play from their “Big Men”, Roy Hibbert and David West. Hibbert has been close to unstoppable this series averaging 22.4 ppg and 12.0 rpg. David West adds another 18.2 ppg and 7.8 rpg. Their back court has also played out of sight and mind due to the play of Paul George and unexpected help from Lance Stephenson.
Some can make the case that James is not getting enough help, especially from his sidekick Dwayne Wade. Wade has disappeared lately in this playoff series and the rest of the team just shows how mediocre they really are. Lebron is trying everything to lead the Heat to a third consecutive NBA Finals but even he shows that he is only human. James is getting worn down both mentally and physically so he has tried to resort to flopping to get easy calls from the refs. He even supported the act of flopping by saying “Any way you can get the advantage over an opponent to help your team win, then so be it.” James has been fined $5,000 for flopping in game 4 of the series.
With the Pacers playing at this level and James not getting any help from his supporting cast, I believe it is safe to say that the Pacers have the best shot at winning this series. James’ numbers are extremely impressive but he is just not doing enough to win the close games. He did win game 1 with an over play by Paul George which led to an easy layup. This series could have easily been in favor of the Pacers 3-1. If the Heat doesn’t find a way to motivate James’ help then this series won’t even make it to game 7.
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