Indiana Pacers match up well against Miami Heat in second round - Palm Beach Post

By Ethan J. Skolnick

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Updated: 10:26 p.m. Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Posted: 9:41 p.m. Wednesday, May 9, 2012

MIAMI â€" The Indiana Pacers are coming this way, for a second-round series that starts at 3:30 p.m. Sunday.

The Heat will try to reverse a trend that, during the season, went the wrong way.

Over the course of four games against Indiana, Miami played four very different variations of coach Erik Spoelstra's squad. The Heat shot worse and scored fewer points in each successive game of the matchup, while each time allowing more.

The 118-83 win on Jan. 4 was the Heat at its best, even without Dwyane Wade; LeBron James scored 33 with 13 assists, and the Pacers shot 34.8 percent. The 105-90 win on Feb. 14 was the Heat at its most resilient, romping out to a 35-point lead on the third night of a back-to-back-to-back. The 93-91 overtime win on March 10 was the Heat at its most cohesive, with James and Wade taking turns making critical plays. And the 105-90 loss on March 26 was the Heat at its weariest and sloppiest, as Indiana capitalized on a letdown â€" after Miami's loss to Oklahoma City â€" and six James turnovers to pull away in the third quarter.

Now Miami will encounter a Pacers team that has gained confidence and experience from its first series victory as a group, even if that victory came at the expense of a depleted Magic team. Indiana will also be a relatively rested team, having finished its first-round work a day earlier than Miami, and having routinely spread minutes throughout a 10-man rotation.

"This next series will feel like it's played in a cage, rather than a basketball court," Spoelstra said.

The Pacers' leading scorer, during the regular season and playoffs, has been small forward Danny Granger, but he averaged just 13.3 points on 34 percent shooting against Miami, at least partly due to James' defense.

Indiana's lone All-Star, 7-foot-2 center Roy Hibbert, wasn't dominating against the Heat's undersized front line.

For the Pacers to make this a competitive series, they will need better performances from both, and poised play from point guards George Hill and Darren Collison.

And they'll need the Heat to play more like the team they faced in late March than the one they encountered in early January.