ESPN NBA

MIAMI -- Whatever happened to "pace-and-space"?

That's the rhyming catchphrase Heat coach Erik Spoelstra utilized to dub the high-speed, low-control offense he developed in the offseason. Inspired by a lockout visit with Oregon football coach Chip Kelly, Spoelstra implemented the fast-paced offense to leverage the athletic talents of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, and to emphasize floor spacing with sharpshooters.

The hands-off approach worked for a while. But after a blazing start to the season, the Heat haven't been running teams out of the gym; instead, they have utilized a slower, more methodical brand of basketball. Against Indiana's stifling half-court defense anchored by 7-foot-2 center Roy Hibbert, the pace-and-space approach could theoretically be Miami's greatest weapon and a potential game-changer in a series tied at 2-2.

So six months after its debut, is Spoelstra still emphasizing pace-and-space?

"Yeah, he’s still preaching it," Wade said at Heat's practice on Monday. "But we have to get stops."

James echoed Wade's sentiment about the importance of defense.

“That’s what it’s about," James said. "When we get stops, we have to attack. We do some of our best basketball when we get a defensive stop and we get out on a run."

A bullet is useless without a trigger. In the absence of turnovers and defensive rebounds, any team will struggle to sprint like the Heat did earlier in the season. The team opened the season as the fastest-paced team in the league over the first 10 games in the season, but over the final 10 games the Heat ranked 25th in possessions per game. Moreover, they averaged the second-most fast-break points in the opening weeks, but ranked dead last in fast-break points in the final 10 games of the regular season.

So is Duckball dead, or is it due for a rude awakening?

The playoffs certainly haven't helped. Postseason basketball typically slows down as the value of each possession becomes more important, but the Heat pressed on the gas in their Game 4 win in Indiana. The Heat doubled their fast-break points from Game 3 to Game 4 (eight points to 16) and reached triple-digit scoring after mustering just 75 points in each of the previous two games.

The key to the spike? Believing that the best offense is a good defense.

"When we defend or rebound the ball, we’ll get opportunities in the open court," Spoelstra said. "That could make a big difference in a series like this. When LeBron gets those defensive rebounds like [he did in Game 4], that’s when we’re at our fastest. He was relentless."

James tallied a season-high 18 rebounds in Game 4, using many of those to propel the Heat's open-floor attack. That's the beauty of having a top rebounder doubling as a point guard; no outlet pass is necessary to ignite a break. During Wade and James' barrage of 38 consecutive points, the Heat throttled the Pacers in chaotic spurts, thriving on transition plays and improvisation.

The "space" part of the equation had been missing too. The Heat weren't able to capitalize on floor-spacing shooters in the first three games; they shot a pathetic 12 percent on 3-pointers in the series before Sunday. But shooting 41.7 percent from downtown in Game 4 helped to free up the driving lanes for James and Wade. The Heat can't get what they want unless Shane Battier and Mike Miller fulfill their floor-spacing duties.

But perhaps most importantly, the pace-and-space attack neutralizes the lumbering Hibbert as a paint protector.

"They obviously have a big guy that sits in the middle a lot," Wade said. "Hibbert is very good defensively, especially protecting the rim, so we have to do a better job of getting points in the paint in transition, not just in the half court. We have to get him in the move a little bit so he’s not just sitting, waiting for us to come down into the paint."

Attacking Hibbert on the move also achieves the Heat's second priority: getting the Pacers' big man in foul trouble. It's no coincidence that the Heat outscored the Pacers by a decisive eight points with Hibbert sitting on the bench with foul trouble. He and David West finished with five fouls apiece.

But it's not as simple as flipping the switch and suddenly deciding to play high-octane basketball. Playing at that speed is exhausting, too, especially after a lockout-shortened season. At Monday's practice, James was asked whether he had any energy after his monster Game 4, and he responded with an exasperated grin.

"Don't have any," James said on Monday. "It’s definitely going to be a recovery and mental day for me to prepare for [Tuesday].”

That's the obvious downside, of course. Throughout the season, this was the overarching question with the Heat: Will they have enough energy in the postseason to play the same kind of pace-and-space brand of basketball that they beat teams with early on?

Wade wasn't so sure.

"Obviously, it’s different now than the regular season," Wade said. "Possessions matter a lot more now. There might be sometimes where they might miss and you might not run. Early on in the regular season, we were just going. It was just ‘pace-and-space’ and we were attacking.

"But that was a long time ago. We’ve got a lot of miles on our legs now from that."

James wouldn't say that fatigue was going to slow the Heat down, but it might make it harder to assert their athleticism.

“Fatigue is part of the playoffs," James said. "I’m just trying to catch my second and third wind out there. You have to just push through it.”

It's no secret that the Heat will look to run at every opportunity, and Pacers coach Frank Vogel has stressed the importance of keeping the fast-break triggers to a minimum. Since Chris Bosh is sidelined with an abdominal strain, the Heat might have no choice but to go all-in on James and Wade's athleticism, and swarm the Pacers as Miami did earlier in the regular season.

“It's that attack mentality," Spoelstra said. "We’re trying to figure ourselves out on the fly with Bosh out. It’s changed the dynamic of the team.”

With the series in the balance ahead of Game 5, channeling an excellent pace-and-space effort might be the dynamic the Heat need to tilt the series in their favor.

“They know what they need and we know what we need," Wade said. "Two sides collide and we’ll see who comes out.”

MIAMI -- Coming off a win in Indiana in Game 4 to tie the series, the Heat were in a good mood at practice on Monday.

With topics ranging from LeBron James' reading material to James and Dwyane Wade's big 70-point night to the Lance Stephenson-Juwan Howard confrontation to Udonis Haslem's bloody eye to James Jones' valiant dunk attempt over the Pacers defense ... it's time to go bullets-style.

• On LeBron and Wade's historic night
  
  James and Wade found out about their 38 consecutive points after the game and didn't hear about the historical precedence of James' 40-18-9 performance until they got on the plane.
  
  When asked whether James took some extra time to take in the historical aspect of his Game 4, James just shook his head.
  
  "No, not really," James said.
  
  Wade later elaborated.
  
  “Last night when we heard about [the statistical feat], we were like, ‘Wow,' and then we moved on," Wade said. "We don’t have time to pat ourselves on the back with our opponent [on Tuesday]."
  
  Wade was mired in an awful shooting slump before reeling off eleven straight buckets on Sunday. It's hard to explain a turnaround like that, but Wade gave it his best shot.
  
  “Obviously, the rim gets bigger and bigger," Wade said. "It’s something that’s indescribable. It’s something you really want to understand because at times the rim seems so small, it looks like a Cheerio. You can’t get the ball in it at all. And then other times it opens up like the ocean.”
  
  Wade wasn't done making analogies. He likened LeBron's night to a video-game NBA 2K. And then to Dirk Nowitzki.
  
  "It was video-game-like. You’d get that on [the video game NBA] 2K," Wade said.
  
  "I was watching the game last night on the plane and I turned to Ronny Turiaf who was sitting behind me and I said, ‘You know what, I’ve played in the league for nine years and I’ve seen some amazing things, but I’ve never really played with a guy that I’m amazed so often by the things he does. I’m used to kind of not being the one who is in awe of things. Sometimes he does things and I’m like, ‘How did just he do that?’"
  
  Wade went on.
  
  “I think there was one shot he made in the game, it was kinda like the Dirk shot where he went and drove and fired and faded back off the wrong leg and banked it in. I looked back at Shane Battier and I was like, ‘What? How did he do that?’ I’ve seen a lot, but the performance he put on last night was a typical MVP kind of performance.”
• On LeBron reading "The Hunger Games"
  
  Full disclosure: I haven’t read “The Hunger Games” yet. Having not read the book, I couldn't get into detail with LeBron about his latest read by Suzanne Collins that is out in theaters. LeBron has been a bit of a bookworm throughout the playoffs, having just finished up basketball legend Jerry West’s autobiography titled “West by West.”
  
  You might have noticed he certainly isn’t shy about his reading hobby around the media and cameras either.
  
  “I’ve been doing it since the playoffs started,” LeBron said Monday. “It just puts me in a different mindset. Honestly, before the game I don’t even think about what’s going to happen throughout the game. I’ve just been reading and it’s been able to calm me down. It’s been great.”
  
  His early review of "The Hunger Games"?
  
  “It’s good, it’s really good,” LeBron said. “I just started reading it.”
• On James Jones' dunk attempt
  
  If you're like me, you watched James Jones' dunk attempt at least 30 times. If not, here's footage in GIF form brought to you by the folks at SB Nation.
  
  The team watched the play on the plane ride back from Indiana last night and the team got a good laugh. When asked about it at practice, Wade squealed with laughter.
  
  “That was by far the funniest thing that happened all year," Wade said. "It showed a great deal of aggression and toughness … but he wasn’t even close. That was the funniest moment on the plane when he watched it on tape.”
  
  Jones got a good laugh out of it, too. He also thought he might have gotten fouled.
  
  “I saw the lane get open, so I tried to attack it. I was hoping the referee would make the right call," Jones said.
  
  "Since I’ve been here, I’ve been predominantly a spot-up shooter, but I saw an opportunity to attack the lane, it didn’t go as I had planned, but it’s just me trying to be aggressive. In the grand scheme of things, it was something that gave some comic relief knowing we had to come in here today and prepare for a tough Game 5.”
  
  And then Jones got serious for a moment talking about trying to prove his talents to his fellow teammates.
  
  “You try as much as possible to remind yourself and your teammates that you’re still a player and that you can do certain things even if it’s not what the team calls for you to do on a nightly basis.”
• On the Lance Stephenson-Juwan Howard scuffle
  
  Wade insists he had no idea about Juwan Howard approaching Lance Stephenson during the pregame warmups until after the game (watch and read about it here).
  
  Howard and Wade grew up in the Chicago area so Wade felt some hometown pride when he found out that Howard, who hasn't played more than a few seconds in the playoffs, stuck up for the team like that.
  
  "That’s Juwan Howard from Chicago," Wade said. "He’s invested in everything that goes on with this team."
  
  And then Wade might have gotten a little carried away, even dabbling in the third person.
  
  "Juwan as big of a part of this team as LeBron James and Dwyane Wade is," Wade said. "His voice and his leadership around here means a lot to us. He understands that and he really gets it this year. If it takes something like that, hey. I didn’t know he did it until after the game and I said, 'That’s hilarious. That’s my boy from Chicago.'"
• On Udonis Haslem's cut above his eye
  
  LeBron put up a historic line on Sunday, but in his effort to be humble about the whole thing, he sent Haslem some praise.
  
  "He's the biggest part of how we won last night," LeBron said. "Even with the individual performance of myself and D-Wade, I think UD got the game ball."
  
  About the gash above his right eye from Lou Amundson's inadvertent elbow?
  
  Oddly enough, Wade enjoyed that.
  
  “Yeah, I liked it because I know certain people when they see their own blood, they get a little crazy," Wade said. "I actually liked it when I saw the blood dripping down.”
  
  How does Haslem look now after the nine stitches? Here's a photo I snapped.
  
  
  ESPN.com

Not bad for nine stitches.

I guess.

INDIANAPOLIS – Frank Vogel calls them his Vince Lombardi moments.

It's those times when the Indiana Pacers' coach claims to deliver just the right motivational message and make the most effective adjustments before he sends his team out after halftime in the perfect frame against the Miami Heat.

“I'm a genius,” Vogel sarcastically quipped. “That simple.”

How the Pacers have taken a surprising 2-1 series lead against the Heat entering Game 4 Sunday might be a bit more complicated to explain than what Vogel has let on.

But not by much.

Among the adjustments Miami hopes to make is to buck a recent trend in which the Pacers have dominated the third quarter in each of the past two games to take control of this series. For whatever reason, the Heat have been a bit sluggish coming out of the locker room after halftime. And as a result, they've been slammed to start the second half.

The Pacers have outscored the Heat 54-26 in the third quarters of the past two games, which includes holding Miami to just 12 points in the period in Game 3 on the way to a 94-75 victory on Thursday to pull ahead in the series.

Miami has shot just 31.5 percent in what has proved to be the decisive period in its matchup with Indiana. The Heat haven't fared much better overall, and are shooting only 37.6 percent through three entire games.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra admitted after Saturday's practice that his team's third quarter production – or lack thereof – has been a longstanding problem that also affected the team during the first-round series against New York. Even last season, the Heat's inconsistency in making halftime adjustments – or responding to them – was a source of criticism all the way through the loss in the Finals to Dallas after squandering a 2-1 series lead.

“That's somewhere we have to be much better at,” Spoelstra said entering Sunday's game. “That's not exclusive to this series. We had a little bit of a problem with that against New York and in the regular season. Our guys understand that we have to come out with a different mentality and force in that third quarter. No question.”

Miami typically has done its most effective work defensively in the second and fourth quarter this season, with their opponents shooting higher percentages from the field in the first and third quarters – right after coming out of the locker room. Vogel said he's noticed the trend, but hasn't had to make many adjustments to capitalize because the third has always been a breakout period for Indiana.

“Our starters have played well against just about everybody all year,” Vogel said of the Pacers, who averaged 25.1 points a game in the third this season, their most of any quarter. “That unit has played at a level the Pacers haven't seen in quite some time. When they come out strong in the third quarter, we ride them a little longer than usual. And that's what led to these third quarter leads.”

The Pacers insist they take full advantage of the opportunity to regroup during the extended break between the first and second halves. It represents a fresh start.

“It's just part of the game we feel we can come out and execute because the information is still fresh in our heads,” forward David West said. “So we try to put a lot of emphasis on that point of the game. But it's more than just five guys, the starters. The bench guys come in and up the pace, up the edge and continue to pressure the other team.”

Several factors have affected the Heat's immediate performance after halftime in this series. In Game 1, Miami was forced into a major adjustment when starter Chris Bosh left the game in the second quarter with an abdominal strain that is expected to sideline him for the rest of the series.

Ironically, the Heat won the third quarter of that game and outscored the Pacers 53-38 overall in the second half. In Game 2, Miami missed 14 of 17 shots in the third and were outscored by 14 points en route to a 78-75 win for the Pacers in Miami. In Thursday's loss, Spoelstra switched his starting lineup in the third and inserted Ronny Turiaf at center after Dexter Pittman had a horrible three-minute stint to open the game.

While the Heat have been searching for answers after the half, the Pacers have been all about stability.

“I think we've done a good job of making adjustments, picking spots where we can attack and (identifying) where we're being attacked,” Pacers forward Danny Granger said. “That third quarter … It's been pivotal for us.”

INDIANAPOLIS – Dwyane Wade can’t get his age-25 explosion back, he can’t magically heal Chris Bosh’s abdominal muscle and he can’t take back the angry words he said to his coach on national television. But there are things that Wade and Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra can do to attempt to change the tide in their series with the Indiana Pacers.

Spoelstra goes to extreme and sometimes paranoid lengths to conceal his true thoughts and strategy. The team’s various non-answers about Wade’s health are just a recent example. But one thing that did come through in their preparation for Sunday’s Game 4 is some planned changes for the struggling and perhaps hurting Wade.

Without Bosh as a pick-and-roll partner in addition to giving up 7 inches to primary defender Paul George, Wade’s had trouble getting to the basket in this series. It’s forced him to rely more on jumpers than his preferred attacks. And his jump shot, whether it’s a slump or because his lift is being affected by some leg issues, has been in a deep freeze.

Spoelstra, seeing these realities, apparently intends to make some adjustments to try to find Wade some relief.

“Big part of that is my responsibility to make sure he get to place where he’s comfortable and confident and where he can be aggressive,” Spoelstra said. “That’s where we’ve been focusing our energies the last couple of days. I anticipate we’ll do a better job of it this game.”

Just what wrinkles Spoelstra has in mind and whether it might make a difference is to be determined. But this bit of in-between-game coaching is some of the most vital coaching Spoelstra has had to execute all year.

His moves so far in the series have come off as erratic, including a bizarre first quarter in Game 3, when he started a player who hadn’t been seen for weeks, Dexter Pittman. Then he shuffled in no less than 11 different players in the game’s first 12 minutes like it was some sort of preseason scrimmage.

Already dealing with a fragile offense, the Heat’s rhythm has been obliterated over the last two games. After averaging 98 points a game in the regular season and 96 in the first round against the New York Knicks, the Heat haven’t cracked 75 points since Bosh’s injury. In an effort to find a mixture that works in light of Bosh's absence, Spoelstra's decisions have been all over the place.

Udonis Haslem, one of the steadiest players on the team, has seen his playing time slashed and his mood darken noticeably on the bench and in the locker room. Rookie Norris Cole has gone from in the rotation to deep on the bench to one of the first subs in. Shane Battier went from backup wing to starting power forward. And then there’s Pittman, whose three minutes in Game 3 could kindly be called unsuccessful. Spoelstra must’ve agreed because Pittman never saw the floor again.

The whole thing resembled an out-of-control garden hose. Not exactly the feeling you want in a pivotal playoff game.

“When you have injuries, especially to key guys, roles change,” Battier said. “You just have to roll with it.”

With all that going on, figuring out how to ease Wade’s struggles -- he shot 10-of-35 over the past two games and has just 12 free throw attempts after he got 14 in Game 1 alone -- is Spoelstra’s greatest challenge.

If Spoelstra can tweak his game plan and find a way to re-engage his second-leading scorer, it could help turn the series around. And perhaps restore some confidence after a coaching performance that so far could be termed as shaky.

It is possible the Heat could look to post Wade up more often, a mainstay of his game during the season that has disappeared over the past several games. Spoelstra may attempt to free up Wade away from the ball so he doesn’t have to beat his man plus a secondary defender, most often the free-roaming Roy Hibbert, to get to the rim. It’s possible Spoelstra could go to Wade pick-and-rolls with LeBron James, which might force the Pacers to change the passive style they’ve enjoyed without having to worry about Bosh setting those usually valuable screens.

What is known is that Spoelstra had a meeting with Wade on Friday at the team hotel before Wade drove to see his old college coach, Tom Crean, at Indiana University. Then the Heat had a long film session on Saturday before going over new strategy for Game 4.

When it was over, Wade was downplaying health concerns and making references to how a game plan change may be beneficial.

“A lot of [the struggles] is not your lift or your explosion, sometimes it’s the game plan,” Wade said. “I’m sure tomorrow will be a different game than any other game in the series from how and where my attacks come.”

Wade, Spoelstra and the rest of the Heat hope it’s sure. They have not had any answers to the Pacers’ defense since Game 1. It may not be as simple as changing the strategy, if Wade is limited by an injury, there is only so much than can be done against an Indiana team that has been thoroughly enjoying itself on defense.

But Spoelstra seems ready to try something new, again. He’s running out of chances to find something that works.

“We have to vary our menu,” Spoelstra said. “We have to use everything we have.”

The only person who might feel more validated than the members of the Indiana Pacers after Thursday night is none other than a player from the losing side: Chris Bosh.

Since joining the Miami Heat in the summer of 2010, the power forward has absorbed all sorts of harsh criticism from seemingly every corner of the basketball world.

He's soft! He's riding the coattails of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade! He isn't qualified to be in the Big Three!

And yet, what's abundantly clear now is that the Heat might not go anywhere unless Bosh rescues them from this series. Since losing Bosh during Game 1, the Heat have been outscored by 22 points in Games 2 and 3 with Bosh missing in action. The Heat's offense is in disarray and the team turmoil came to a boiling point when Wade, the face of the franchise, had to be restrained from coach Erik Spoelstra on the bench on national television. All with Bosh out of the picture, nursing an abdominal strain that could keep him out for weeks.

Who's riding whose coattails?

Unfortunately for the Heat, Bosh's potential rescue isn't likely to happen anytime soon, and there's a chance he might not return in these playoffs. What Wade's meltdown and the Heat's 19-point loss Thursday underlined was the fact that the Heat desperately miss what Bosh brings to the table.

As a smooth-shooting power forward, Bosh functioned as the team's stabilizer and, perhaps more importantly, the scoring buffer between Wade and James. Spoelstra has insisted over the last two seasons that Bosh, not Wade or James, is the most vital player on the Heat roster. But each time the coach made that statement, the declaration was usually met with an air of mocking skepticism.

Bosh, the most valuable Heat player? The guy who averaged 18.0 points and 7.9 rebounds this season after averaging 24.0 and 10.8 in 2009-10? The guy who scored over 30 points just twice this season? The guy who promised in the preseason to average 10 rebounds a game this season and couldn't even average eight?

Yes, that guy.

Though often a punch line and target of ridicule, Bosh thrives in the most important play in professional basketball, the pick-and-roll. When Bosh went down, the Heat also lost one of their greatest weapons in the halfcourt: a simple screen for James or Wade to give them space to work their magic. Bosh has been replaced by non-scorers in Udonis Haslem, Joel Anthony and Ronny Turiaf, and the Heat offense has never looked so clogged.

Bosh is often labeled as soft because of a finesse game that includes a consistently effective mid-range jumper. Among the dozens of players with at least 100 shots from 10-15 feet this season, no one shot better than Bosh's 49.5 percent conversion rate, according to Hoopdata.com. Not Dirk Nowitzki. Not Kobe Bryant. Not Kevin Durant. No one.

For this reason, Bosh creates a dilemma for defenders in the pick-and-roll. Leave Bosh to wall off James' or Wade's penetration? Or shade toward Bosh and make sure the league's most sure-handed mid-range shooter doesn't get an open look?

Watch how Roy Hibbert and David West "guard" the Heat's big men. Or better yet, watch how they sag into the paint and ignore the Heat's big men. Watch how Wade and James settle for pull-up jumpers -- the least potent weapon in their arsenals next to heaving halfcourt shots -- because multiple bodies are anchored in their way.

Or just listen to Hibbert.

"Without [Bosh] in the game, I can wander a little bit more and make the paint look a little more crowded and block more shots," Hibbert said after Thursday's rout. "When he's there, I have to respect his ability."

To see the Bosh effect, look no further than Wade's whopping total of two shots derived from the pick-and-roll in Game 3. According to SynergySports, Wade missed both shots after a screen and they were both as a result of Hibbert's noted lack of respect for big men in red. Wade clanked a running floater over Hibbert in the third quarter because the 7-foot-2 All-Star shifted over to Wade, ignoring Turiaf. On another possession, Wade got blocked by Hibbert after the screen because Anthony was never deemed a threat as a roll man.

The pick-and-roll used to be Wade's bread and butter, the vehicle he road to a title in 2006. Without Bosh, it's almost useless. The Pacers can throw two on the ball and lure Wade into rolling the dice on a jump shot. The result? Wade has shot a putrid 16 percent (4-for-25) on jumpers since Pacers coach Frank Vogel had a day to game-plan for the Heat's post-Bosh offense before Game 2.

James has enjoyed more success than Wade in the pick-and-roll game without Bosh, but he certainly feels the effects of Bosh's absence. Because the Heat can ill-afford to play two big men without any semblance of scoring ability, James often is forced to play power forward and exhaust himself defensively on big men. James ran around like a man possessed defensively in the first half Thursday and then, predictably, trailed off after halftime.

There's little evidence that Bosh's skill-set has diminished since he came to Miami, only his role. Bosh has proved that he can be the scorer we knew in Toronto if he gets the touches. Consider that in Wade's nine-game absence in January this season, Bosh averaged 26 points on 59 percent shooting. He sacrificed touches when he came to Miami and did it for the goal of winning a title.

Spoelstra maintains that the Heat "have enough" to replace Bosh's presence. Now, Bosh can only watch while the Heat struggle to survive without him. As we're seeing now in the case of Bosh, sometimes you don't know what you have until it's gone.

MIAMI -- The Heat weren't supposed to be this top-heavy.

The loss of Chris Bosh has ripped a gauze pad off Miami's hidden wound, exposing the Heat's thin depth behind the Big Three. In the Heat's first full playoff game without Bosh, the team's third-highest scorer tallied a putrid five points. According to STATS LLC, that's the first time in Heat franchise history that only two players scored more than five points in a game. According to our friends at ESPN Stats & Info, a team has never won a postseason game with that type of scoring distribution.

Use any statistic you please, what's clear is that the Heat have a pressing issue on their hands. It's just one game, but Game 2's lopsided scoring distribution reinforces the fact that the Heat are desperate for any help from their supporting cast.

It wasn't supposed to be this way.

In the summer of 2010, Udonis Haslem and Mike Miller were signed to five-year contracts worth a total of $45 million to act as relief and support for the Big Three. They were hired to be cushions for the Big Three, there to protect them with shooting and balance. We're in just Year 2 of those deals, and whispers of the dreaded "washed up" label can't be too far away for Haslem and Miller, who are 31 and 32 years old, respectively.

Haslem's 5.8 PER is the worst rating among the dozens of big men with at least 125 minutes logged in the playoffs. Miller has scored more than four points just once over his last five games and is shooting 33 percent from the floor in the playoffs.

So what happened? We'll take it one struggling ballplayer at a time.

Udonis Haslem
Haslem maintains he is 100 percent. After he chatted with Pat Riley on the sideline at Wednesday's practice, I asked him whether there's anything physically limiting him on the court, and he responded sternly.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he said. "Nothing's wrong with me. I'm fine."

In this case, actions might speak louder than words. What his actions on the floor suggest is that something is keeping him grounded. Literally. Haslem, who was once one of the league's more efficient big men, has seen his field goal percentage plummet this season to 42.3 percent. In the playoffs, his conversion has sunk even lower; he's shooting 33.3 percent in what Erik Spoelstra likes to call "the second season."

What should concern the Heat is that the opposing team always seems to throw a block party when Haslem gets the ball underneath. And it's not just because 7-foot-2 Roy Hibbert has anchored Indiana's front line. This has been a season-long trend. When we pull up NBA.com's stats tool, we find out that a whopping 20 percent of Haslem's shots in the paint have been blocked this season, which is the third-highest rate among qualified big men in the league. (Only Brandon Bass and Ivan Johnson were swatted more). That's one out of every five shots. That's also double the rate we saw before he was injured last season (10.3 percent). In his last full season in 2009-10, that number stood at 12.5 percent.

As a result of all the blocked shots, his field goal percentage on shots in the paint has dwindled to a mere 46 percent, which is far below the 54.5 percent average among bigs. More and more we see Haslem retrieving an offensive rebound (often off his own misses) and passing it out to the perimeter instead of going back up with it. While that might be the smarter move, it's also one that might not have happened a couple of years ago.



Then we get to that jumper. The herky-jerky shooting motion has never been a thing of beauty, but it always seemed to get results. Not so much lately. So far in the postseason, he's shooting a putrid 27.3 percent on jumpers, according to Synergy Sports, which is down from his rate of 36.2 percent in the regular season. Before going down with a foot injury, Haslem nailed 50.9 percent of his jumpers, making him one of the best knockdown midrange shooters in the league.

What's the cause of his jumper's demise? It could be a matter of balance and follow-through as his former trainer and current ESPN Insider David Thorpe observed in January. Although Haslem started hitting shots soon after that article was posted, his proficiency has hit rock bottom yet again.

This is not the Haslem the Heat thought they were getting when they signed him to a contract that extends to 2015. The fire, heart and leadership that earned Haslem a co-captain designation? That's still there. That should never be doubted with Haslem, the team's hard-nosed leader and rock of the franchise. The production, though? That's been missing for some time now. The 12 minutes he received in Game 2 spoke wonders about where he fits into the Heat's current plans.

So what happened to Haslem? It's hard to say. Again, Haslem insists that he's healthy, but that foot injury required several surgeries over the past year or so. The increase in blocked shots suggest that he doesn't have the same burst that he used to. His strong rebounding numbers might tell us that he's not hurting at all, but Haslem's rebounding has always been a product of expert positioning and effort, not bounce.

The Heat need Haslem's shooting more than ever now that Bosh is sidelined. He's giving no reason for Hibbert and David West to follow him after a pick-and-roll. As is, the Pacers bigs are more than happy to throw an extra body in the way of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, rather than stick to Haslem in the midrange. The Pacers are making it clear that they don't feel he's a threat from there anymore. And it's hurting the Heat's attack.

Mike Miller
Miller and Haslem find themselves in the same boat, which is appropriate since they were college roommates at Florida. After receiving a multiyear deal to flank the Big Three, Miller has barely played a healthy minute on the floor. In Game 2, he grimaced as he trotted up and down the floor with a noticeable limp, perhaps due to a lingering soreness from his left ankle injury that forced him to miss 14 games in March and April.

Miller, like Haslem, maintains that he is healthy. The hobbling in Game 2 suggests otherwise, and there's little doubt that it's sapping his game. The Heat recruited Miller because of his shooting stroke and ballhandling ability. Upon his signing in July 2010, Riley gushed about Miller's skill set, calling him the finest perimeter shooter in the NBA and the signing as "a match made in heaven."


"He is a multifaceted player who can rebound, handle the ball and make plays," Riley said that summer. "We expect big things from him."

The shooting stroke is still there -- he's shooting 36.7 percent from downtown in the playoffs and 45.3 percent in the regular season, but the ballhandling and playmaking skills that the Heat were sold on? We've haven't seen that in months.

If you have any doubt that Miller's ankle is bothering him, chew on the following information. In Game 2, Miller played 17 minutes. In those 17 minutes, guess how many times he dribbled in the half court?

Four.

And he lost the ball on three of those dribbles, causing two turnovers.

Think about that. Four dribbles in 17 minutes.

Miller, who used to play de facto point guard during his days in Memphis, played 17 minutes in Game 2 and successfully put the ball on the deck once in the half court. (I say half court because he caught an outlet pass and dribbled twice on one occasion before passing the ball past half court). As has been true for a while, Miller's role on the team has been reduced to a corner 3-point shooter, camped out and waiting for the kickout from James or Wade.

This is a significant problem for the Heat, because once Bosh went down, they have had no one who can create their own shot besides James and Wade. It's gotten so bad that the team is forced to rely on rookie Norris Cole, who shot 34 percent after the All-Star break, for buckets off the bench. Sure, Cole can create his own shot, but making the shot has been a different story -- although it should be mentioned that he made both of his attempts in Game 2.

When the Heat signed Miller and Haslem, there was no way of knowing that they were going to battle injuries for almost all of their first two seasons in uniform. Between the foot, ankle and shoulder injuries and the concussions, there's a ton of bad luck involved. But you always run that risk when you sign veterans on the wrong side of 30 to five-year deals. Thanks to injuries and age, the multidimensional players they thought they were getting have become increasingly limited as basketball players.

What the Heat need now is Miller and Haslem to step up if they hope to escape out of the Eastern Conference semifinals. There's still time to get healthy and reverse the trends.

But the more they limp up the floor and get swatted underneath the basket, the more it appears that time might be running out.

In another installment of the Heat Index's 3-on-3 series, our writers give their takes on the storylines before the Heat visit the Pacers for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

1. Fact or Fiction: Dwyane Wade should have been suspended.

Tom Haberstroh: Fiction. Although, I've gone both ways on this one. Darren Collison decelerated slightly for the pass, so I'm not sure it was all Wade's fault for the sheer velocity of impact. But I can't shake the feeling that this wasn't a fully objective ruling. I keep asking myself the following three "What Ifs": What if Collison and Wade switched places? What if Chris Bosh wasn't out indefinitely? What if the Heat were up 2-0 instead of split in the series? We'll never know.

Michael Wallace: Fiction. I thought a Flagrant 1 was adequate punishment to fit the crime. As it turned out, that extra possession Indiana got as a result of Wade's message-sending cheap shot ended up costing the Heat in a 3-point loss. I will say this: Had Wade or LeBron been hit from behind like that, my guess is the call would have been more harsh under the same circumstances.

Brian Windhorst: Fiction. It was a cheap shot hit and was properly called a flagrant foul. It would've been interesting had it been called a flagrant-2 foul and they had to review it and decide whether Wade should've stayed in the game. Joey Crawford was all over the play, made the call and the league stood by him. It was proper.

---

2. Fact or Fiction: Heat need Haslem to step up more than Miller

Haberstroh: Fact. Haslem has played worse than just about anybody left in the playoffs and the Heat don't have anyone who can score underneath. If they can just get Haslem to provide 10 points with some mid-range jumpers and put-backs, it would open up so much in LeBron James and Wade's games, especially in the pick-and-roll.

Wallace: Fact. Only because Shane Battier, Mario Chalmers or James Jones are capable of giving Miami the shooting Mike Miller is supposed to provide. With Chris Bosh out, Miami doesn't have any other bigs who as effective as Haslem could be in the pick-and-roll game with Wade and LeBron. Who else is going to grab 10 rebounds if needed? Haslem must first give Erik Spoelstra a reason to play him more than the 12 minutes he got in Game 2.

Windhorst: Fact. Well, the Heat need somebody to step up, anyone. But Haslem would be a bigger boost because if he was able to get his jumper going he would be a threat in the pick-and-roll game. With Bosh gone, the Heat's favorite play has been gutted because the Pacers do not respect whoever is in the play unless it is Wade and LeBron.

---

3. Fact or Fiction: This series is a 50/50 toss-up at this point.

Haberstroh: Fact. I would say that a breakout game of the Heat's supporting cast is just around the corner, but I look at Haslem and Miller limping up and down the floor and I can't help but wonder if there's something more that's plaguing this team. The Pacers are healthy, hungry and home for the next two games. This is a toss-up, to me.

Wallace: Fiction. I'd go 55/45 still in favor of the Heat. Miami still has the league MVP in James and a top-5 player in Wade on the roster. Two more baskets from anyone else on the roster the other night would've put the Heat ahead 2-0 right now. You could also look at it another way and say that if the refs didn't hold back Indy in Game 1, the Pacers could also be up 2-0. So in essence, that does mean this thing is essentially anyone's series to win.

Windhorst: Fiction. The Heat have the two-best players and overall more experience. They still have the edge but it is much closer, there's a much smaller margin for error with Bosh out.

INDIANAPOLIS -- On his way off the AmericanAirlines Arena practice court Wednesday, Miami Heat forward Udonis Haslem stopped to speak with someone who knows the kind of impact the rugged veteran is capable of having on a title-contending team.

Waiting off to the side of the gym was Heat president Pat Riley, who coached Miami when Haslem was a starter during the team's 2005-06 championship run.

In many ways, Riley still sees Haslem as the player capable of taking on the toughest defensive challenges in the frontcourt while also managing to routinely knock down mid-range jumpers in big spots to provide the Heat relief.

But a combination of injuries and offensive struggles the past two seasons have taken a toll on Haslem, who is in the midst of the least-productive season of his career.

Under normal circumstances, Haslem would be the natural choice to step in and fill the void created by the absence of Chris Bosh, whose strained abdominal muscle is likely to sideline the perennial All-Star for the rest of Miami's conference semifinal series against the Indiana Pacers.

But Haslem played just 12 minutes during Tuesday's 78-75 loss that allowed the Pacers to tie the series at 1-1 and steal home-court entering Game 3 on Thursday in Indiana. So before the Heat departed Miami on Wednesday, Riley pulled Haslem aside to try to clear up a few concerns.

Part of the reason Haslem's minutes have been reduced recently, specifically late in games, is because LeBron James shifts to power forward -- Haslem's natural position. The Heat also spread the floor with 3-point shooters around James, and have gone to Bosh or Joel Anthony at center.

“Part of the deal is you produce on the court, and when you're not on the court, you continue to support your guys and continue to be a good teammate,” Haslem said of his conversation with Riley. “It's not like I'm giving up minutes to some bum off the street. My minutes are going to the MVP at (power forward). When I get my opportunities, all I can do is try to make the best of them."

The Heat might never again need as big of a boost from Haslem as they do right now. With Bosh out of the mix and Miami desperately looking for production beyond James and Dwyane Wade against the deep and relentless Pacers, Haslem is one of a few key role players the team is relying on to break out of slumps that have lasted far too long.

When Riley envisioned the players who would make the most impact on the Heat's roster, the hope was that James, Wade and Bosh would be adequately and consistently supported by Haslem, Mike Miller and Shane Battier.

But all three reserves haven't exactly lived up to expectations this season. Haslem and Battier are shooting the worst percentages of their careers. Miller's overall production as a shooter and facilitator has fallen off so much the past two seasons that teammates don't even consider him to be one of the primary ball-handling options on the team -- which was supposed to be a strength.

Unless the three of them get going quickly in this series, the Heat could be upset by Indiana. What the Game 2 victory did for Pacers was provide evidence that they can absorb solid games from James and Wade and still beat a Bosh-less Heat team by limiting contributions from others. It's not all that different from the Heat knowing they could sustain a 40-point game from Carmelo Anthony last series and still cruise to victories against the New York Knicks.

James and Wade scored 21 of the Heat's 23 points in the fourth quarter of Game 2 and also took 17 of 23 shots. Among the adjustments Miami talked about making for Game 3 was to get -- and keep - others confidently involved to help ease the load on James and Wade.

“All of us will take the onus on making sure other guys get more opportunities,” Wade said. “And me and LeBron will also make sure the opportunities we have will be a little bit more effective. It's nothing new for us. We have a lot of guys that get the ball because we handle a lot, and we have to make plays for them. So we have to do a better job of trying to find out how to get those guys more involved.”

Beyond James, Wade and Bosh, the Heat fashion themselves as a team of specialists - role players who do one specific thing well. Most aren't considered players capable of consistently creating their own shot. So even when Wade and James aren't scoring, they're working just as hard to set up scoring opportunities for their teammates.

Without Bosh, the Heat have even fewer options when it comes to players who can catch the ball and create offense for themselves, which puts even more pressure on the offense on nights when Miller, Haslem, Battier and Mario Chalmers -- primary rotation players -- aren't making shots. The most glaring offensive statistic for the Heat through two games is their 1-for-22 shooting from 3-point range.

“For us, it's the obvious storyline,” Battier said. “Some missed shots that are right there for us are the main culprit. We're getting looks. We're not going to overreact. If the shots present themselves again, we're going to take them and take them with confidence.”

The fact remains the Heat are a wounded team searching for answers in the middle of a series that could prove to be tougher than many observers expected.

“Anybody can be beat at any time,” Haslem said. “Even with Chris, we can be beat. We're not unbeatable. But, like I said, we've got to come together and it's got to come from multiple guys. It's not just going to be one guy.”

Riley's message to Haslem was that the Heat's ability to come together will be crucial for this team to rebound from the Game 2 loss and regain its footing in this series. As frustrated as Haslem might be with his inconsistent playing time and struggles within the offense, he said “it's not the time” to gripe or complain about anything.

“If anything, we come together right now,” Haslem said. “We don't go separate ways and complain about individual things. So I'm all in for what needs to be done to help the team win.”

MIAMI – Sometimes pride clouds perception.

So you might want to disregard some of what you may have read or heard from the Miami Heat's high-profile players after Tuesday's draining playoff loss.

They lack the credibility to criticize on this particular front.

Did the Indiana Pacers uncork and toast champagne after their 78-75 victory over the Heat in Game 2 to knot this second-round playoff series at one game apiece?

No, they didn't.

But did a couple of Pacers celebrate on the Heat's court after the buzzer in a victory that gave them a greater sense of confidence, having seized home-court advantage heading back to Indiana for Games 3 and 4 of the series?

Absolutely.

Of all the things Dwyane Wade and LeBron James could have taken issue with following one of the worst offensive games Miami has played all season, being a bit offended by Danny Granger or Paul George jumping around on their way off the court should be the least of Miami's concerns.

Wade blew a critical, contested layup with 16 seconds left that could have tied the game. But he didn't miss the chance to take a not-so-subtle shot at the Pacers well afterward to let them know he wasn't exactly fond of their exit.

“I heard they wanted to be like the Dallas Mavericks in a sense,” Wade said, referring to the Mavericks celebrating their series-clinching Game 6 victory over Miami on the very same court in the Finals last season. “I saw [Indiana's] little celebration at the end of that game. I don't know if they didn't expect to win. But every night we go out on the court, we expect to win. They stated their identity. They said they wanted to be like Dallas. So, they celebrated like Dallas, I guess.”

Moments earlier, James, who missed two crucial free throws in the final minute, ended his gathering with reporters suggesting the Pacers seemed to act as if the victory counted for more than just one win in the series.

Both Wade and James were light-heartedly tongue-in-cheek with their comments. But the fact is, the Heat are probably the last team in the league that can joke about anyone celebrating anything prematurely.

This was the same team scolded nationally when it celebrated the signings of James, Wade and Bosh with a news conference that had the production flair of a rock concert, with smoke, fireworks and a hydraulic stage lift.

This was the same team ridiculed by many for the way players hugged and knelt down on the court after being overcome with emotion in their second-round playoff series win over Boston -- the same round these playoffs are in.

And this was also the same team accused of celebrating a 15-point lead over Dallas late in Game 2 of the Finals before the Mavericks not only stormed back to win that night, but also beat the Heat again on their own court to snatch away an NBA title. If Wade and James had points to make amid Tuesday's disappointment, they should have been aimed at their lack of Game 2 support.

The fact is, Indiana didn't go over the top with the way it embraced Tuesday's victory. Forward David West even went out of his way to shove some of his joyous teammates off the court and toward the locker room to make sure it wouldn't appear they were having too good of a time.

But even if they did get a bit carried away with themselves, so what? What does that change? What does it prove? What impact will it have in Game 3?

What Wade's reaction underscores is that there truly may not be a joyous element for the Heat in this ordeal. They're a team on one of two tracks. Either they meet expectations or they fail miserably. It's win a title and exhale. Or fall short and exterminate. It's the unfair, but inevitable reality Wade, James and Bosh signed up for on those collective $340 million contracts.

When the stakes are that high, you don't get to enjoy the small victorious steps along the climb. Indiana could lose every game the rest of this series, and their season is a huge success because they've already built on last year's finish.

The Heat are judged much differently, far more harshly. And sometimes, that reality gets lost on nights like Tuesday, when you're forced to walk off the court watching Pacers chest-bump after shooting 37.8 percent from the field and committing almost as many turnovers as James had points. It's easy for that snapshot to rub Wade the wrong way. It's also completely understandable.

But there's no denying the Pacers came to Miami and accomplished what they set out to do. They earned a split of the first two games in the series. They crossed off a short-term goal although there's still a long, long way to go from here. The Pacers have the perspective to know that.

“We can't get too excited because we won one game,” West said. “That is not our goal in this series. We can't overreact because we were able to get one game down here.”

Heat forward Chris Bosh missed Tuesday's game and is likely sidelined for the rest of the series with a lower abdominal strain he sustained in Game 1. The Pacers aren't looking to just give the Heat a tough series. Even before Bosh went down with the injury, Indiana came in boldly claiming an underdog didn't exist in this series.

But with the Heat's Big 3 now reduced to two, and with James and Wade facing the prospects of essentially carrying an overwhelming burden from start to finish, the Pacers like their chances of pulling off the playoff upset.

The Pacers have played from this script before. They made the playoffs last season for the first time since 2005-06, but lost to then-MVP Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls in five games despite Rose being limited by a sprained ankle.

In the first round of this season's playoffs, Indiana capitalized on Dwight Howard's season-ending back surgery to dismiss the Orlando Magic in five games. Now, the Pacers are staring a weakened Heat team in the eye and insist they are capable of trading blows for the duration.

“Because they're All-Stars, I was giving them too much respect,” Pacers swingman Paul George said of matching up with James and Wade. “That's something I definitely can't do. I have to challenge them every possession. It wasn't like we were surprised we won. We're a great team. It's not like we're excited. We came in here and did what we had to do. We're 1-1 and headed back home. We're not boasting about anything. We're just confident that we came in here and did what the media said we couldn't.”

The Pacers still have plenty to prove in this series. But now, so do the Heat. Miami has to find a way to get production from someone other than James and Wade, who had 28 and 24 points, respectively, in Game 2. No other Heat player scored more than five.

Miami can't replace Bosh, but someone -- or two, or three -- must step up and prevent West, Granger and Roy Hibbert from combining for 32 rebounds on a night when the Pacers won the battle on the boards by 10.

Someone has to give James and Wade at least a chance to catch their breath a few seconds and not have to do everything on both ends every minute of every quarter.

“They scored a lot, but we stopped everyone else,” Granger said of shutting down the Heat's role players. “We never felt like we were the underdogs, you know. This is business as usual.”

It's business. But it also just became personal.

“Now, it's a series,” Wade said. “We'll come out [for] Game 3, knowing it's going to be a tough road game. But we're still going to expect to win the game. We've got to make all the plays between the lines. We're a confident team, and we can get home-court [advantage] back.”

Wade's eyes were deceiving him a bit Tuesday. He knows deep down that what a few Pacers did at the end of the game doesn't really register as a celebration.

It simply served to satisfy Wade's prideful search.

A search for additional motivation.

In another postseason installment of the Heat Index's 5-on-5 series, our writers give their takes on the storylines before the Heat host the Pacers in Game 2 Tuesday night.

1. Fact or Fiction: Roy Hibbert will get 20 and 10 in Game 2.

Tim Donahue, 8 points, 9 seconds: Fiction. It's possible, but unlikely. There are too many things that mitigate against Hibbert getting much more than 30 minutes - fouls, matchups, conditioning. In addition, Hibbert is too easy to take away, if he becomes the main focus of the offense. The 17 and 11 he put up Sunday feels awfully close to his peak to me.

Tom Haberstroh: Fact. Expecting big things from him in Game 2. I see Frank Vogel getting back to his roots, and studying the tape to find a better way to get Hibbert the ball in the post with Chris Bosh ailing. Secondly, the Heat know that locking down the perimeter and creating havoc in the passing lanes will lead them to fast-break opportunities. They'll "let" Hibbert get his.

Jared Wade, 8 points, 9 seconds: Fiction. He dropped a 20/10 only four times this regular season and couldn't manage to do so against the center-less Magic in the first round. Doubt he starts now against one of the league's premier defensive teams.

Michael Wallace: Fiction. I believe Hibbert will get the rebounding numbers. But he doesn't have to quite score 20 for the Pacers to be effective. In order for Indiana to fully exploit its size/strength advantage, Hibbert's production must be complemented by David West.

Brian Windhorst: Fact. He got only 27 minutes and 12 shots in Game 1 because of foul trouble. He also had to play a half against Bosh. And he still had 17 points and 11 rebounds. No excuse not to improve on that.

---

2. Fact or Fiction: Danny Granger needs to step up more than Hibbert.

Donahue: Fact. Miami proved that it can live with the Pacers' bigs having their way, provided Indiana gets little or nothing from the perimeter. The Pacers have little or no chance of winning a game - let alone the series - if Granger doesn't play better at both ends.

Haberstroh: Fact. This is their leading scorer and he was invisible offensively. The Heat don't respect Granger quite on the same level as Carmelo Anthony, but he's clearly much less capable against James. If the Pacers have any hope of stealing a game in Miami, Granger needs to hit his shots. Otherwise, where else are those points going to come from?

Wade: Fact. The Pacers spread the scoring around pretty evenly but Granger usually finishes near 20 points when they're playing at their best. This means he gets a few open 3s, a few transition points and a few points he creates by getting to the rim or pulling up in the midrange. He needs to find a way to score or Indiana is toast.

Wallace: Fact. Granger claimed that Vogel apologized after the Game 1 loss for not getting him more involved offensively. Granger also has to be much better than 1-for-10 from the field. Bottom line is Granger must make James work much harder defensively at a time when he'll be carrying an even bigger load to make up for Bosh's absence.

Windhorst: Fiction. The Pacers' hopes are on Hibbert, he has to be a force. He has to compel the Heat to alter their defense and get out of their preferred style. Granger of course has to play better, he can't be going 1-of-10. But after watching Granger play against James about 25 times over the years, I do not expect greatness.

---

3. Fact or Fiction: You expect the foul disparity to even out in Game 2.

Donahue: Fact. No good way to answer this, but 9 is a big gap, so it will likely go down. Miami (read: James and Wade) attacks the rim much more, and that will create more fouls. Unless Granger and Paul George become much more active, the Pacers will remain upside down when it comes to foul count.

Haberstroh: Fact. Call him soft or whatever, but Bosh is one of the top whistle-drawers in the game. He'll be missed in the free throw column and it's not like Ronny Turiaf, Joel Anthony and Udonis Haslem need to be fouled underneath. James and Wade won't stop attacking Hibbert and West on the front line, but don't forget that that Pacers posted a higher free throw rate (percentage of shots coming from the free throw line) than the Heat this season. It'll balance out some.

Wade: Fiction. I expect it to be closer, but still favor Miami. The Heat are just so much more aggressive in terms of attacking the hoop with abandon. Sunday wasn't a single-game aberration as much as it was a continuation of a season-long trend for both squads.

Wallace: Fiction. James and Dwyane Wade will always get calls, many of which they deserve and some that are byproducts of superstar treatment. That won't change. The only thing the Pacers can do is attack the basket on the other end and make the refs occasionally call it both ways.

Windhorst: Fact. It'll tighten up. But how much disparity was there? The Heat took 10 more free throws than Indy. That's not exactly normal but it's not obscene. The Heat average eight more free throws than their opponents in the playoffs. The Pacers foul a lot. The Heat are going to take more free throws in this series most likely.

---

4. Fact or Fiction: James should start at power forward.

Donahue: Fact, though I'm not entirely sure if it matters. It seems unlikely that experimenting with starting Turiaf or Anthony will hurt the Heat much. However, James should see significant time at power forward, because it puts the most pressure on the Pacers. It's also the most likely way to neutralize the one advantage West and Hibbert give Indiana.

Haberstroh: Fact. If it means more floor-spacers in Mike Miller and Shane Battier on the floor instead of Turiaf or Anthony, the Heat should seriously think about starting James at the 4 -- although the MVP clearly said he didn't expect (er, want) to start at the power forward slot at Monday's practice. Normally, I don't care who starts or finishes, but in this case, I think the upside is great enough that James should get the start. Playing Turiaf or Anthony means more 3-on-5 ball.

Wade: Fact. Getting Battier on the court for more minutes is better than extending the time given to any of Miami's bigs.

Wallace: Fiction. Keep James in his comfort zone for now. Besides, there's no need to risk the early foul trouble or the physical exertion banging with West and Hibbert down low from the start. Put Turiaf at center and keep Haslem at power forward for the time being.

Windhorst: Fiction. I don't care who starts, he'll likely finish playing power forward.

---

5. Fact or Fiction: The Heat should still be favored in this series without Bosh.

Donahue: Fact. Bosh is a significant loss, but it remains to be seen how quickly Miami will feel it, or how quickly the Pacers can capitalize on it. Ultimately, the Pacers still have to overcome first James, then Wade before making Bosh's absence matter. The reward's richer if they can, but overcoming those two isn't all that much easier for Indiana.

Haberstroh: Fact. I originally had the Heat in five, but I'll push that back to seven games. Even without Bosh, the Pacers still don't have any answers for James and Wade's attack. If Granger doesn't show up, might have to keep this at Heat in five.

Wade: Fact. But barely. It is now a very even series if Bosh doesn't play again this round. In Game 1, Indiana showed that it can play with, and perhaps even better than Miami for long stretches. The Pacers will have to withstand great play by two great players, but they now have a clear advantage in roster spots 3 through 10.

Wallace: Fact. The Heat still have two of the top five players in the game, still have home-court advantage and still have a level of confidence and mental toughness the Pacers have yet to show on a postseason stage with this much intensity.

Windhorst: Fact. They still have the two best players including the MVP.

MIAMI -- Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert is in the middle of a group of players who will be free agents this summer who have a hard-to-determine value.

He’s in the same class as fellow big men like Ersan Ilyasova, Ryan Anderson, Brook Lopez and JaVale McGee. All have somewhat accomplished resumes but it’s hard to judge where each is in their development and just how much their rare size is worth in a market where no less than a dozen teams acould have $10 million or more in salay-cap space. Those are going to be some interesting negotiations.

Hibbert, though, has a chance none of his peers do. What he does over the next two weeks could put him at the head of that class and add millions to his next deal. He has a chance to elevate his team and do it against players that should not be in his league. It’s a green light to show that he can be a difference-maker in a playoff series.

With Miami Heat big man Chris Bosh likely sidelined for the rest of the series with an abdominal strain, Hibbert will not have a peer on the floor to battle him. The Heat will be probably deploying a mixture of Ronny Turiaf, Joel Anthony and/or Udonis Haslem. If Hibbert is truly an All-Star and a player worth an eight-figure per year salary, he should be become a force and perhaps tilt the series.

In Sunday’s Game 1, Hibbert fought foul trouble and only played 28 minutes, getting just 12 shots. He scored just seven points in the second half, when the Heat played without Bosh. He still had 17 points and 11 rebounds. With no Bosh, there’s little reason that shouldn’t be his low watermark in the series. There’s enormous room for more production.

Pacers’ coach Frank Vogel got some consideration for Coach of the Year after he had his team play a well-rounded style that led to the fifth-best record in the league. But you don’t have to be John Wooden to know that increasing Hibbert’s touches and attacking the Heat’s weakness at center would be at the top of the game plan starting Tuesday night.

Unless the Heat dust off Dexter Pittman, a little-used and under-experienced center, or Eddy Curry, a project the team seemed to abandon months ago, Hibbert is going to have a massive size advantage on his competition. Also, without Bosh to defend in pick-and-rolls, there’s no reason for Hibbert to respect the offensive game of Turiaf, Anthony or Haslem and it should keep him from getting out of position as much as when he had to be active in dealing with Bosh. That’s his biggest weakness and why he’s often in foul trouble.

The Heat did not double team Hibbert much in Game 1, doing so upsets their floor balance and leaves them vulnerable on the perimeter. Hibbert said Monday he doesn’t expect routine double teams anyway, the Heat usually just front him and try to deny entry passes.

But with the size advantage, none of this should really matter. Hibbert may never get another chance like this to prove his value. A guy who was a project when he came into the league who just hoped to hang on to a job, he’s put in a great deal of work to alter his body and become both stronger and more nimble. He’s worked on his post moves, he can now score with both hands around the rim. It’s been an impressive transformation, getting the All-Star nod this year was a vindication of his potential.

But it’s all been building to this, working and getting better and learning to use his 7-foot-2 inch body and figuring out how succeed in a game with players more talented than him. This is the biggest moment of his career thus far.

Marc Gasol's payday last offseason could demonstrate what could be at stake for Hibbert. Last year, Gasol had a breakout postseason for the Memphis Grizzlies, increasing his scoring average from the regular season and showing that he was no longer an overweight project but a bona fide franchise center in the Grizzlies’ surprising playoff run. Two months later, Gasol signed a four-year contract worth $58 million. A year before, it would’ve been hard to believe. When the deal was announced, though, most felt it was a smart move.

Gasol had a 24-point game and two 17-rebound games against the San Antonio Spurs to help pull the upset in the first round. Then he had two 20-point, 10-rebound games in a seven-game series with the Oklahoma City Thunder including a 20-point, 20-rebound night.

These are the kinds of performances the Pacers need from Hibbert to have a chance to pull their own upset in this series. He’s hinted before that he’s capable, his chance is now. And unlike Gasol, he won’t have to do it against a front line that includes a defender with size like Tim Duncan or Kendrick Perkins. Unless the Heat change their strategy and start bringing aggressive double teams, Hibbert is going to have the edge.

The Pacers are going to need help. They’ll need something more than 1-of-10 shooting from Danny Granger. They need more than two points in the fourth quarter from David West. They need Paul George to stay out of foul trouble, too.

But the key to this series from the Pacers’ standpoint is clear. Hibbert has a chance to shine or make suitors wonder if he’s got what it takes.

Here's a short clip of Chris Bosh speaking to reporters on Monday about his abdominal strain. He is listed as "out indefinitely," but the key quote (which isn't in this short clip):

"This season has to be extended for me to play again."

Speculating about Chris Bosh's injury when you don't know a thing about sports medicine or wear a white jacket is a bad idea. I don't have a degree in sports medicine. So I asked someone who does.

ESPN's Stephania Bell is the injury analyst on our staff and a board certified orthopedic clinical specialist and certified strength and conditioning specialist (fancy!). Given what we know about Bosh's injury (which is very little), I thought I'd ask her a few questions about what the heck an abdominal strain is and what it means for the Heat going forward.

Chris Bosh seemed to grab his groin after the injury, but it's being called an abdominal strain. What's the difference?

Bell: The groin is one of the inner-thigh adductor muscles and the lower abdominal muscle is the rectus -– the "six-pack" muscle -- but what's important is that they all attach to the pubic bone along with the oblique muscles. That’s the issue. If he partially tore the muscle down by where it attaches, that is a huge problem.

These things sound tricky, but can we get any sense of the severity based on how he looked after the injury?

It’s hard to say and I wouldn’t venture to guess on a diagnosis based entirely on video. You can’t tell the magnitude or degree, but the more interesting factor is the way he looked, the way he grabbed, it has the potential to be something that’s problematic going forward. When you see a guy grabbing at the muscle and going down to his knees, it certainly suggests it’s more than a mild partial tear. It’s not like it was only sore after the game. It took him to his knees and then he had to leave.


So what does a strain mean? What does it limit?

A strain could be anything, really -- mild, moderate or severe -- we don't know. It doesn’t mean that he wouldn’t try to play, but it would certainly compromise his ability to run, jump, anything that stretches that muscle, anything that requires power. If it’s down low near where it attaches, essentially every time that muscle contracts you’re going to get a sharp pain that makes it virtually impossible to power to your legs and your trunk can’t be strong. They’re going to be very open (with the timetable). That’s a fair thing to do right now, because usually there is a lot of uncertainty day-to-day. Can he function? Can he get on the court and be serviceable? They’re not wrong to leave it open.

Is this a sports hernia?

A sports hernia is a confusing term because it's not actually a hernia at all. A sports hernia is a tearing of the abdominal wall or tear of the groin. They wouldn’t necessarily use that term right now and it’s proper to call it an abdominal strain now, but sometimes we later hear it being called a sports hernia. Sometimes they need to be repaired. Sometimes a mild strain, depending on location, can heal on its own. Reason being most of the things they call sports hernias will not heal independently.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra often says that Chris Bosh is the most irreplaceable player on the Heat. Not best, but most critical.

With Bosh leaving Sunday's game with a lower abdominal strain, we'll find out how vital he is to the Heat. To be clear, abdominal strains are one of the trickiest injuries in basketball. Sometimes they knock out a player for a day (like what happened Jazz big man Al Jefferson this season). Sometimes they knock out a player for three weeks or more (like what happened to Kevin Garnett in 2008).

Depending on the severity of the strain revealed on Bosh's MRI, he could be out anywhere from a day to a whole month. A month on the sideline would likely mean he's done for the season. The best guess at the moment is that this abdominal strain will probably keep him out for the rest of the Pacers series, but we'll know more about it after the Heat's practice on Monday afternoon.

So if Bosh is out for the rest of the series, what does that mean for the Heat?

They still have LeBron James and Dwyane Wade
This is pretty obvious, but James and Wade are pretty good at basketball. Any time you can have two perennial MVP candidates wearing the same jersey, that team's chances are pretty good regardless of how much overlap they bear in playing style.

This notion was solidified on Sunday, when the James and Wade outscored the Pacers by themselves in the second half. Yes, James and Wade combined for 42 points after halftime while the entire Pacers team scored just 38 points. Riding the dynamic duo, the Heat absorbed Bosh's injury and squeaked out a win over the fifth-winningest team in the NBA this season.

Is that success sustainable? It actually might be. Looking at the regular season, we find something interesting: the Heat blew out teams with James and Wade on the floor and Bosh sidelined. When the Big Three was reduced to the Big Two for 235 minutes on the court this season, the Heat scored 120.8 points per 100 possessions while giving up only 99.8 points per 100 possessions according to basketballvalue.com. Said another way, the Heat beat opponents by 17.8 points every 48 minutes when James and Wade played without Bosh. Looks like addition by subtraction, no?

Well, we have to be careful here. The James-Wade tandem preyed on opponents partly because they played against second units. The Heat obviously want the Big Three on the floor as much as possible against the opposing teams' best lineups, so the Bosh-less units usually came against bench players in the regular season.

For this reason, there's no sense in thinking that the Heat can continue that torrid pace here in the playoffs against the cream of the crop. And the sample size isn't huge (for reference, it's about one-tenth the size of our sample looking at Carmelo playing without Amare). But 17.8 points every 48 minutes is a strong indication that James and Wade can hold their own.

OK, so what does it mean for this series?
Now that we're done with the overview stuff, let's talk details. Bosh was particularly valuable in this series because of his ability to hit a jump shot and pull gentle giant Roy Hibbert outside the paint. With Bosh out, they're forced to rely on Udonis Haslem, Ronny Turiaf and Joel Anthony to set picks and hope that the defense doesn't double-team the ball-handler (which would typically be James and Wade).

We saw a lot of this in Game 1 on Sunday. With no reason to follow Turiaf or Anthony at 18 feet, Hibbert just camped out in the paint and waited for James to approach. Couper Moorhead of Heat.com did a fantastic job of breaking this play down with video. When Hibbert gave James space, the MVP took advantage by pulling up for clean looks in the midrange. That's not a shot Spoelstra wants every time, but giving James space is never a bankable plan.

The Heat won't find someone to replace everything that Bosh does, but Haslem was supposed to be a serviceable understudy. As a gifted midrange shooter and tenacious rebounder, Haslem fit the role as a solid backup power forward who could offer some floor-spacing with his jump shot. But Haslem's shot has been broken for some time now; he's shooting just 3-for-12 (25 percent) on midrange jumpers in the playoffs (via Hoopdata.com). Bosh he is not.

But Turiaf and Anthony should see a big boost in minutes. When the task is to catch-ball-dunk-ball, Turiaf and Anthony can be useful (Anthony has been playing as if his hands had been recently dipped in glue). Asking them to do anything outside the immediate basket area is a fool's errand, although Turiaf can dish it out to shooters. If they can catch James' and Wade's dump passes when Hibbert and David West collapse onto the ball-handler, that could go a long way to decongesting the offense.

James at power forward: power outage concerns?
James isn't a known as a power forward by trade, but he has the strength and size to be the league's most effective 4 if he wants. Don't believe me? James has a 29.1 player efficiency rating (PER) as a small forward this season according to 82games website. At power forward? James' PER soars to 37.1, which is simply off-the-charts good.

With the size of Karl Malone, James can be a monster on the block when he wants to be, thanks to his improved postgame footwork and ability to pass out of double-teams. We saw James at the 4 for 20 minutes in Game 1 on Sunday and the Heat outscored the Pacers by 15 points. The Pacers tried to stick Danny Granger on James and assign West to take Shane Battier on the perimeter, but removing a big body like West from the paint area is just asking for a Wade or James basket attack.

Rest assured, the Pacers will make adjustments in Game 2. While the Heat could start James at the 4 spot in Game 2, the Heat must be careful about James' stamina. They do not want him burning all his energy trying to body up West on the block, then expecting him to shift into higher gear on offense with Bosh out.

With Battier in the fold, the Heat's No. 1 priority this season was making sure they found relief for James and keeping his minutes down in the playoffs. Asking James to battle West for 45 minutes isn't part of that plan, but Spoelstra might not have any choice. They'll be glad now that they were extra careful about James' minutes in the Knicks series.

At the end of the day, this is Spoelstra' great dilemma: Can the Heat survive and prevent James from burning out in the Finals again? That's the big question. The Heat might have enough to get by the Pacers, because James at the power forward slot might be their best option in the first place, but at what cost?

Getting past the Pacers without Bosh is the Heat's current priority, but it's not the only one. They have enough talent to prevail in this round, but the bigger question might be whether they'd be running on empty thereafter.

MIAMI -- The Pacers and the Heat are spending an extraordinary amount of time studying each other this week. Here’s a look at what their scouting reports will look like, provided by league advance scouts’ notes on both teams:


PACERS STRENGTHS

• Getting to the line. One of the biggest changes Frank Vogel has implemented with the Pacers is turning them from a team that shoots a high volume of 3-pointers to a team that focuses on dribble penetration. As a result, they get a significant portion of their offense from getting to the foul line. They have several perimeter players who specialize in it, from Danny Granger, Darren Collison, Paul George and George Hill. They are also a disciplined 3-point-shooting team. They don’t take many of them but they make them, shooting at a good percentage.
• Zoom. The Pacers will go to “zoom” several times a half. This is where they quickly turn from their preferred tempered approach to playing up-tempo. This is often triggered by dribble handoffs. They use the element of surprise.
• Bigs. The Pacers have four quality big men and two energy bigs off the bench in Tyler Hansbrough and Lou Amundson. They also have good general length. As a result they are a good rebounding team, top-10 in the league, and an elite team when it comes to second-chance points. They are not a dynamic offensive team, but with second-chance points and free throws, they get by.
• Wing versatility. The Pacers can play with excellent size on the perimeter. They can switch on pick-and-rolls because players like Granger and George can defend point guards. Most of the time they are solid in rotations.

PACERS WEAKNESSES

• Low assist team. The Pacers have a handful of players who can create their own shots but they do not execute plays very well. They were one of the lowest assist teams in the league. They try to set up a lot their offense out of the post, but overall their ball movement is not strong. Their guards also are prone to turnovers, though they have improved from last year when they ran former coach Jim O’Brien’s “quick” system.
• Average in transition. The Pacers won 90 percent of their games when they outscored their opponents in transition, but they only did that about a third of the time. They don’t look to run often and aren’t very proficient at it.
• Hibbert in the pick-and-roll. He has excellent size but Roy Hibbert has poor lateral quickness on defense. Teams should involve him in as much pick-and-roll action as possible.
• Foul-prone. The Pacers have a gritty team that works hard on defense but they often get over-aggressive. They committed the third-most fouls in the league. Getting big men in foul trouble can be accomplished and should be a priority.

WHAT THE PACERS NEED TO DO TO WIN

• Keep LeBron James and Dwyane Wade off the foul line. They are great scorers anyway; they will make baskets against good defense. But they are at their best when they are able to earn trips to the line.
• Dominate the boards and get second-chance points. The Heat have one of the better defensive teams in the league but have some of the worst size. Getting extra possessions is the best way to balance out the talent differential.
• Manage turnovers. The Heat can win without getting in transition, but that's usually how they blow you out. If you can limit letting them get free baskets with live-ball turnovers, you will have a better chance of managing the score.

HEAT STRENGTHS

• Transition. The Heat are one of the best teams in transition in the last two decades. James and Wade look to run and work well together in transition. They are so quick and can change directions so effectively that even fouling doesn’t always help, because they can usually shake the contact and turn it into a three-point play.
• Defensive speed. The Heat have excellent defensive versatility because James, Wade, Shane Battier and Mike Miller can guard multiple positions. It is hard to predict what lineups/matchups they will create because they have numerous wing options. They will attack pick-and-rolls, even with their big men, to reduce dribble penetration and have the athleticism to get out to shooters and challenge shots. They are able to create steals with their length, which is a major goal of their system.
• Drivers. James and Wade are two of the most effective drivers in the league. Also, Chris Bosh will look to put the ball on the floor after pump-faking. As a result, it is not unusual for these three to rack up 30-plus free throw attempts a game combined.

HEAT WEAKNESSES

• Size. The Heat often do not play a true center and their big men are all generally undersized. Bosh, Udonis Haslem and Joel Anthony all regularly guard players bigger than them. Their fourth big man is often James, who plays parts of most games at power forward. They have problems with teams that have good post scorers and weakside rebounders. These are just about the only area of the game they can be dominated in. They have some bigger bodies on the bench but Erik Spoelstra prefers not to use them.
• Defensive over-aggression. The Heat try to get in transition as much as possible and they apply a lot of pressure on defense, often trapping ballhandlers when they come off screens. As a result they gamble and will often give up position. They believe so much in their rotations that they will sometimes lose their floor balance. Also, their general defensive principles call for them to collapse on the ball when it goes to the middle. So you can often pass through their rotations to find an open man, and they will give up open 3-pointers if you can work inside out. You just have to be careful with those passes.
• Turnovers. The Heat will give the ball away in part because they look to push the ball in transition a great deal and in part because they are not always an effective half-court offensive team. James will often attempt passes that are high-risk, and Wade is susceptible to steals when he’s driving the ball. Both handle the ball a great deal and both have periods when they are loose with it, allowing vital transition chances for the opposition.

WHAT THE HEAT NEED TO DO TO WIN

• Control Indy’s bigs. The Heat will have a hard time winning the rebound battle; just playing even would be a victory. The Pacers rely on second-chance points as a significant portion of their offense. Hibbert is not a dominant player but has the ability to take over games at times with interior scoring. The Heat will have to attempt to limit his and David West’s effectiveness.
• Contain dribble penetration. Weakside defense is important when playing Indiana; you have to have help defenders ready because the Pacers prefer to attempt to drive from the perimeter. This is how they are able to get to the line, forcing fouls off the dribble. They need free throws and second-chance points because they don’t have great individual scorers. Staying out of the bonus is important.
• Apply pressure. The Pacers have a tendency to lose their focus and their patience. They can give up big runs and have their spirit broken. They are not a veteran team and most of their players have not played deep into the playoffs. The Heat have the ability to throw haymakers because of their talent and their athleticism. The Pacers have shown they can be shaky under pressure.

SCOUTS' PICK: Heat in five.