As the camera closed in on Miami Heat coach Eric Spoelstra late in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, there appeared a look of pale resignation that belied the sunny south beach environs.
He realised that the Heat’s home court advantage in this already thrilling series had all but disappeared.
And as he swung around he seemed to look in the direction of a dapperly dressed figure cutting a stylish swathe behind his disbelieving players on the Heat bench.
The figure was former championship winning Miami big man and hall of famer Alonso Mourning , and Spoelstra may have hoped he could still suit up.
The former Heat enforcer still holds the franchise record for blocks and it was something akin to his defensive prowess that was lacking in the paint for Miami in this game.
Indeed, the 6’8” LeBron James was predictably doing his best impersonation of ‘Zo’.
But Indiana’s victory was largely built on the back of the 7 foot 2 inch frame of Roy Hibbert.
As a good friend would forcefully declare when talking of a Hibbert type of presence ‘oh yeah mate, he’s a big alright just look at him?’
But you don’t need to consider my mates pseudo man crush on 6’10” or bigger NBA ballers to figure out where Miami will continue to struggle in this series.
Chris Bosh is an effective offensive weapon who has the ability to space the floor and in this way can affect Hibbert’s devastating though stationary game. But so far in this series Bosh is a big man in numerical measurement only.
His meagre return of seven rebounds through the first two games is less than his season average for single game totals, more Tim Hardaway than Alonso Mourning.
Bosh, along with Miami local lad Udonis Haslem, must crash the boards with more force in order to negate Hibbert’s, and to a lesser extent David West’s, presence on the offensive glass.
Hibbert was always going to be a tough match-up for the undersize Heat, but as Jeff Van Gundy so accurately and eloquently puts it ‘You got LeBron James, what else do you need’.
Well seemingly you need ‘a genuine big’, something Miami now seems desperately lacking.
After the heartbreak of losing game one in overtime, popular opinion was that the young and often offensively loose Pacers would not put up a similar fight in game two
The heat would have adjusted, it was thought, and the Pacers would be lucky to stay with King James and his merry men
But these Pacers are well coached by their boyish mentor Frank Vogel and along with Hibbert the Pacers have another bona fide superstar in Paul George.
In fact it was George who sparked the Pacers on both ends of the floor when they needed the most.
His defensive prowess is much hyped but in these playoffs it has been George’s offensive production that has seen Indiana’s pretension to the title move from pie in the sky to cooking in the oven.
Through the regular season George averaged 17 points, but up until this point the playoffs have seen him step that production up 20 per game. And through the first two games of these Eastern Conference finals he is scoring 25 a game.
And in David West and the aforementioned Hibbert, Paul George has found his John and Ringo.
And how fitting that the reigning King of the court LeBron James now finds himself in arguably this seasons most exciting match-up, against an opponent led by a young Pacer who suddenly seems to have legitimate claims to official ‘superstar’ status.
This was confirmed as much in one memorable 10-second period where we were treated to what will hopefully become a regular occurrence in this already enthralling series.
With half time looming Paul George stormed the Heats lane and threw down the kind of nasty dunk that hip-hop lyricists love to reference.
To add drama to the spectacle, the dunk was on LeBron James and the resulting effect on the crowd was akin to a mass injection of codeine.
Then LeBron demanded the ball.
Really, it shouldn’t be so remarkable that a man who has made this game look so ridiculously easy walks up the court with the all defensive Paul George guarding him (the man who just moments before had shown the most public lack of respect to a King one can deliver) and casually knocks in a buzzer beating three pointer from 26 feet.
It was a breathtaking taste of what will hopefully become a main course throughout the remainder of this series.
The series now swings to Indiana, and if the fans of any NBA team could be equated to a horde of ravenous zombies, it’s the Indiana army that continues to proudly turn up night after night at the Pacers home in Minneapolis.
For a part of America that so proudly espouses its religious adoration for the game of basketball, it must be a sore point that Indiana has so far been starved of a championship.
But with Hibbert and George hungry to posterise more Heat victims the success hungry Pacer faithful now believe they have the team to feast on a championship pie, and make Miami eat one more humble.
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
I think that aside from San Antonio, the Heat play the 'purest' team basketball in the league.
mushi
Roar Guru
I don't get it either Ryan the heats entire offence is built around moving the ball. Likewise their small ball defence is about a team that understands their responsibilities when to switch, when to front etc. Their super star player has the highest assist percentage of any non pg superstar and the 9th highest in the league amongst players with 20% useage rates that played 1500 minutes. ooh he also has a higher assist rate than any player on the pacers by a whopping 50%. I think ss is regurgitating a three year old cliche rather than watching the games and seeing the ball movement and willingness to trust the open role player.
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
The Heat don't play proper team basketball?? Not that this is the be all or end all, but they finished 8th in the league in assists. Indiana finished third last!
Silver_Sovereign
Guest
If Hibbert had been on the court at the end of game 1, it would probably be Pacers up 3-1 with only one win needed. Personally I have heard enough of the Heat and Lebron to last a lifetime. Pacers v Spurs would be a good reward for fans of proper team basketball
mushi
Roar Guru
“When the knicks had hibbs on the bench was where they were going in to melo hibb would come across and then they would go straight in to paint again with shump or JR more often then not hibbert wasn’t set and he was reaching across or he was off balance when he was going up.” I struggle to understand this – is Hibbert on the bench (which you said), rotating over to melo (which it sounds like you are saying) or in the paint (where you said to attack him?)
mushi
Roar Guru
“but if you can penetrate dish to James and drive again at the bucket you can effectively get Hibbs on a off 3 or drawning him out and off balance. Hibbert is great at standing in the middle and going straight up. If you attack Hibbs force him to move in the restricted and attack him again you’ll get him off balance and he wont have time to adjust to the play. I reckon anyway. I don’t know what an off 3 is other than an infraction for 3 seconds in the key by the team with the ball. If you get an off 3 that is bad, you won’t get a def 3 because if you force him to guard someone his 3 seconds start again so you basically give him the green light to zone. But that aside by penetrating and attacking hibbert you collapses the defence – it does not draw him out, that’s the entire premise of penetrating with the ball. Even if he for whatever reason Hibbert has been forced so deep into the restricted area that he can’t contest the next drive, though I would love to see how Wade, Chalmers or Cole do that (the only guys who are going to dribble penetrate against the pacers D with any regularity), by following a drive immediately with another drive (and it must be immediate otherwise hibbert recovers) you clog the lane.
Knickradamus
Guest
I agree there but James can take contact and still put up a good shot, but if you can penetrate dish to James and drive again at the bucket you can effectively get Hibbs on a off 3 or drawning him out and off balance. Hibbert is great at standing in the middle and going straight up. If you attack Hibbs force him to move in the restricted and attack him again you'll get him off balance and he wont have time to adjust to the play. I reckon anyway. When the knicks had hibbs on the bench was where they were going in to melo hibb would come across and then they would go straight in to paint again with shump or JR more often then not hibbert wasn't set and he was reaching across or he was off balance when he was going up. No doubt hibbert is prob best unrestricted zone defender atm but his adjustments to plays lets him down.
mushi
Roar Guru
Here is an article on it: http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/63158/courtvision-roy-hibbert-the-protector
mushi
Roar Guru
But Stat always has injuries and Melo was best at the 4 this year without a doubt. Relentlessly attacking Hibbert on the drive gives the pacers a 4-0 sweep of any team in the NBA. He was the hardest big in the game to attack in the paint this year, which is part of why the pacers are so good. Most players are actually better off taking a floater than challenging him. Where he sucks is moving out to challenge shooters.
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
I'm sure they will, but they'll need to make an adjustment. James killed George in the post, yet if they double team him, he's one of the best passers in the league and will find open shooters or cutters. If they put West on him, he'll simply drag him out and take him off the dribble. It's the strategy that won the title for them last year, but even then it was forced upon them because of Bosh's injury. Once they stumbled across it, I don't know why you would ever go away from it.
Kurt Sorensen
Roar Guru
It's a good point re James in the post. The Heat really never looked like losing that Game and much of it was due to that adjustment me thinks. I still kinda think the pacers might have a bit more to say before this series is out, but a lot that will be to do with how coach Vogel adjusts and how George responds to a quiet game 3. Good series to watch.
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
MELO! Good to have you back, buddy! Don't worry, the off-season is quite enjoyable once you get used to it. I've essentially been here since November, apart from the odd tease from my boys. On Melo/Stoudemire, the greatest proof that the combo doesn't work was Melo's season. If Amare wasn't hurt, I'm 95% certain Melo wouldn't have had the awesome year he had, nor would have the Knicks. His absence and the Knicks success without him is the best evidence that the partnership doesn't work. On the Pacers, if they don't win another game in the series, I'll still be impressed. Just a smart, gutsy team. Awesome to watch. I do wonder why it takes a loss for LeBron and Spoelstra to put LeBron back in the post. That is how they won the championship last year, and it maximises LeBron's abilities, and those of his teammates. Just do it all the time.
Knickradamus
Guest
I'm never far away Ryan, lol.... I am a crushed man, I sought comfort in jalen Jacoby podcasts and interviews with spike lee on espn..... I been runnin through my head what the Knicks could have done differently there are just so many things, On the stat / melo not working I think that's not really a fair statement considering they very rarely saw any time together given stats injuries.... On the pacer - heat series, 1 thing I learnt from the Knicks series playing small ball don't settle for mid range shots attack hibbert in the paint refs are going to call it on every 1 in 3 drives get him in foul trouble and take hibbert out of the game then on offence they will only have west in the post and George shooting 3's which isn't ideal for the pacers. Also have to crash the boards on d... Heat often get 2 or 3 guys pushing the floor for transition buckets u can't do that against Indy with hibbert and west.....
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
Yes, he's been a little quiet hasn't he? And by quiet, I mean silent! Which is a shame, because I really wanted him to continue telling me how horribly wrong I got my Knicks pre-season prediction. Just a re-cap: - I said Melo/Stoudemire couldn't work. It didn't. - I said the Knicks had a poor off-season and were too old. They did, and they were. - I said there is no cause for optimism. Considering the salary they have tied up in their front court, there isn't. - I said they would lose in the second round. They did. (Of course, I won't mention my Lakers predictions!)
Worlds Biggest
Guest
Heat v Spurs should be a cracking Final. The last time the Spurs were in the Finals in 2007 they swept LBJ's Cavs.
Kurt Sorensen
Roar Guru
SPOILER ALERT!!!! Just watched the game, ummmm.... so that heat team is pretty good hey? Space the floor well and don't mind not having an inside presence. Never in doubt!!!!! (Did I get away with it?)
astro
Guest
Maybe they're trying to convince themselves that spending $14mil combined on 40yr olds Kidd and Camby over the next 2 years, having to massively overpay JR Smith so he can vanish in next years playoffs, owing a suddenly old-looking Tyson Chandler $43mil over the next 2 years, and (of course) having an equally expensive PF who can't actually play PF now that Melo plays there, in Amare, will somehow lead to a championship???
astro
Guest
I think its their style...defense doesn't tell tickets. Who wants to see game after game of 80-78 scorelines? Although with Paul George emerging as a star, he should put bums on seats in Indy. Assuming the re-sign David West, which isn't a guarantee.
mushi
Roar Guru
BTW anyone seen melodrama/knickradamus? He complained all season about Ryan O'connell's prediction that the knicks would get punted in the second round but I've only heard crickets since it actually happened.
mushi
Roar Guru
Allen's 2-4 at the line was even worse.