NBA Playoffs: Pacers Cool Heat Late To Even Series, 78-75

LeBron James' Missed Free-Throws Not All That Led To Pacers Win In Miami

The Miami Heat lost to the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday night in what can probably be called an upset despite the narrow 78-75 margin of victory. The national media's narrative will likely put the majority of the loss on LeBron James' shoulders for missing free-throws in clutch situations, but the Pacers' simply executed their gameplan better than Miami (and it didn't hurt that Chris Bosh was out, either).

The Heat simply were outplayed, really, as SB Nation's experts will attest to -- both those on the Heat side as well as those in Indiana. Our friends over at Peninsula Is Mightier noted that James' missed free-throws were a big deal, but not the biggest deal when it came down to it.

Critics will immediately jump on LeBron for missing 3 of 4 free throws in the closing minutes of the game, but in truth the Heat wouldn't have had a chance if it wasn't for what he and Wade did to keep the Heat close, who were trailing since the midway point of the third quarter. The team only mustered 14 points in the third quarter with a flat offense that featured little to no ball movement and zero creativity.

SB Nation's Pacers blog, Indy Cornrows, also downplayed the missed free-throws as it instead focused on the defensive effort of the Pacers ... and all-around struggles from the Heat earlier in the game.

Mario Chalmers ended up with the game tying shot, a miss, as time ran out on the Miami Heat comeback, giving the Indiana Pacers a huge satisfying win they desperately tried to give away at numerous points. Even though all of the talking points will revolve around the LeBron James' missed free throws, the third quarter was huge. The Pacers defense deserves credit for this win. It wasn't perfect, but it did a superb job forcing everything through James and Wade (even forcing them into jump shots galore) and effectively shutting down their entire roster.

Indiana played poorly, but got enough from its roster to come away with a win on a night it appeared the Heat couldn't possibly play any worse. The Heat finished up at 35 percent, 1-17 from three-point range, getting 52 of the team's 75 total points from James and Wade. While it doesn't appear the Heat can really play any worse, the good news is that Indiana can continue to wear down those two and hopefully continue to win in the series.

It will be interesting to see where Game 3 of the series is headed and, regardless of the outcome of the series, there's a good chance James and Co. aren't going to want it to be decided by free-throws -- even if that isn't why they lost on Tuesday night.

For more on the Pacers, head over to Indy Cornrows and SB Nation Indiana. For more on the Heat, check out Peninsula Is Mightier and SB Nation Tampa Bay.

For The Miami Heat, No Chris Bosh Means Big Problems

The Miami Heat lost Game 2 against the Pacers Tuesday, and with Chris Bosh's injury keeping him out indefinitely, the struggles for LeBron James and Dwyane Wade may not end there.

Dwyane Wade Accuses Pacers Of Excessive Celebration

Heat Vs. Pacers, 2012 NBA Playoffs Game 2: Final Score, Indiana Holds On For 78-75 Win

The Indiana Pacers have pulled off a surprise split on South Beach, proving that they won't be a pushover for the Miami Heat. Following a hard-fought Game 1 at AmericanAirlines Arena, Indiana were better in the closing minutes of Game 2, hanging on for a 78-75 win.

LeBron James and Dwyane Wade had solid games for the Heat, but both struggled down the stretch and couldn't convert on great scoring opportunities when they were handed to them. James finished with 28 points, nine rebounds, six steals and five assists, but missed two crucial free throws with 54 seconds remaining while the Pacers led by one point. On the Heat's next possession, which followed a lengthy Pacers possession extended by an offensive rebound, Wade missed a driving layup.

The Pacers went to the line twice in the closing seconds, but couldn't put the game away. Roy Hibbert and George Hill made one of two free throws in their trips to the line at the end of the game, keeping the Heat in a one-possession game even though they didn't score in the final two minutes.

Hill's missed second free throw ended up in the backcourt after a deflection while both teams were fighting for the rebound, and Hill stepped out of bounds trying to save it, giving possession to Miami with eight seconds remaining. Erik Spoelstra surprisingly drew up the final shot for Mario Chalmers, who got a clean look at a three-pointer, but missed. The Heat couldn't come up with a second-chance attempt and the Pacers are heading home with a 1-1 split.

For more on the Pacers, head over to Indy Cornrows and SB Nation Indiana. For more on the Heat, check out Peninsula Is Mightier and SB Nation Tampa Bay.

Which NBA Playoff Game Was Worse?

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Just When You Thought This Game Couldn't Get Any Worse

Now nobody can make a free throw.

Here's Where The Pacers Miss Not Having A Point Guard

The Pacers’ biggest problem is they don’t have a point guard to improvise, get assists and make sure everyone is running the right play. This kills them in tight games against really good defenses. It’s killing them against the Heat right now.

LeBron James And Dwyane Wade: Attacking The Offensive Glass

If the Heat find a way to win this game, it’ll be because LeBron James and Dwyane Wade enforced their will in every way. Both guys are attacking the offensive glass with a raging fury, as if they know their teammates won’t ever hit a shot. That’s why this is now just a three-point game.

Dwyane Wade With A Pretty Bad Flagrant Foul On Darren Collison

Let’s be honest here: if Dwyane Wade was Devin Ebanks, he probably would have been ejected for shoving Darren Collison in the back here. This is probably a Flagrant 2 foul, but the referees said it was only a Flagrant 1. The Heat are lucky.

(via 30fps).

Miami Isn't Running Lots Of Offense Right Now

Steve Kerr has been harping on this, and he’s right: the Miami Heat aren’t really running any plays right now. The guards are dribbling aimlessly, and nobody is cutting.

Here, again, is where the absence of Chris Bosh is felt a lot. With Bosh in the lineup, the Heat can run a horns set, where two big men stand at the elbows and either LeBron James or Dwyane Wade cuts in from the baseline to take a dribble-handoff. Bosh is excellent at this because he has the ball skills to execute the hand-off and is enough of a threat to require attention after setting the screen. Nobody else on the Heat has a chance to execute this play.

This is why we were saying that losing Bosh is a big deal.

Time To Sit A Few Plays Out, Mike Miller

It’s OK, champ. You’ll get them next time.

These Shot Charts Tell The Story About The Heat's Offense

Here are the shot charts for LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. First, LeBron:

Now, Wade:

Hard to get to the basket when nobody else on your team can do anything.

Udonis Haslem Has No Confidence In His Shot

It’s bad enough that the Heat don’t have Chris Bosh, but Udonis Haslem, one of his replacements, suddenly refuses to shoot anymore.

Heat Vs. Pacers, 2012 NBA Playoffs Game 2: Halftime, Miami Leads Low-Scoring Game

Do you like defense? Boy, do we have plenty of defense. The Miami Heat lead the Indiana Pacers 38-33 at halftime in Game 2 of their series, and until Indiana started hitting threes in the closing minutes, the half appeared to be on a track to be the most offensively dismal half of basketball in this year's playoffs, which is saying a lot.

Without Chris Bosh, the Heat are using LeBron James as a power forward on a regular basis, as well as at the point. He's having a fantastic game, even if his stats don't reflect it. He has 12 points, but just three assists. He's probably created at least 10 wide-open shots for his teammates, which they missed with an impressive degree of consistency in the first half. Dwyane Wade has nine points on 3-8 shooting.

Roy Hibbert should theoretically be putting up big numbers offensively, but he hasn't scored a field goal since there was 10:48 remaining in the first quarter. Danny Granger has only made two field goals, and one of them was a layup off of an offensive rebound. This is just generally a poor offensive game, and it would be super if someone could start making uncontested mid-range jumpers with any kind of regularity.

For more on the Pacers, head over to Indy Cornrows and SB Nation Indiana. For more on the Heat, check out Peninsula Is Mightier and SB Nation Tampa Bay.

The Heat Miss Chris Bosh

Despite putting together another unbelievable defensive performance … the Heat are tied with the Pacers. Blame the absence of Chris Bosh. Without him to space the floor, the Pacers have been able to contain LeBron James and Dwyane Wade by having several help defenders veer off their men to plug the middle.

Indiana Pacers Need Some Pressure Releases To Combat Miami Heat's Defense

You know that adage your coach told you about keeping yourself between your man and the basket? The Heat don't do that. Instead, they're fronting everyone and preventing all entry passes.

This is where the Pacers need to do one of two things. One, they could cut backdoor. Someone needs to fight around Miami's fronting to catch the ball, and someone else needs to immediately dive to the basket to get an easy layup.

More fundamentally, though, the Pacers just need to pass more decisively. There are openings to lob the ball over the top, but if the Pacers aren't ready to take advantage of them, they close quickly. Indiana's guards need to trust themselves to put the ball in the right spot instead of playing not to commit a turnover.

Miami Heat Defense Having One Of Those Stretches

The Indiana Pacers are struggling offensively, but all the credit in the world should go to the Miami Heat -- their rotations are so on point right now.

Consider the play at the nine-minute mark of the second quarter. Darren Collison and David West ran a pick-and-pop, and West slipped the screen like he usually does. Against 29 other teams in the league, he has an open 16-footer from the right elbow. In this game, two Heat players converged on him and forced West to throw the ball cross-court, where a third Heat player deflected the pass out of bounds.

The Heat go through stretches like this where they’ll rotate to you no matter what sets you run. Without an elite isolation scorer, Indiana doesn’t have much of a chance.

Danny Granger Needs To Get Something Easy

After going 1-for-10 in Game 1, you’d think Danny Granger would try harder to get an easy bucket within the flow of the Indiana Pacers' offense. So far, nope. Granger has taken four shots, and all four came from outside of 18 feet. He’s made just one of them, and the Pacers have gone into an offensive drought.

Getting easy buckets is not exactly a strength of Granger’s, but he does have a better shot-fake game than this. Here’s an idea: Instead of launching 3-pointers against Miami’s aggressive closeout defenders, why not use a shot fake and try to drive to the basket?

LeBron James, Dwyane Wade Are Amazing In Transition, Volume 234

There's a reason NBA bloggers have started nicknaming the LeBron James/Dwyane Wade fast break the "Flying Death Machine." Now that they've played together for two years, they have learned how to find each other in the right spots on the break. This fast break is a perfect example of that.

On this play, James drove the ball up the court, found Wade and received an incredible "punch" pass back from Wade for the score. There's a reason that nickname exists.

Pacers Need To Keep Feeding Roy Hibbert

That's easier said than done, of course, but after a very nice start, the Indiana Pacers have gotten away from getting the ball to Roy Hibbert on the inside. The Miami Heat's defense has been good, no doubt, but the Pacers have also rushed shots. Danny Granger’s long 3-pointer with just under five minutes to go in the first quarter was a shot he didn’t need to take.

NBA Playoffs 2012, Heat Vs. Pacers Game 2: Game Time, TV Schedule And More

The Miami Heat likely have to deal with the Indiana Pacers in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals Tuesday night without Chris Bosh.

How The Heat Defend Bigger Big Men, And Why It Works