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MIAMI - After serving a one-game suspension for his flagrant foul during the Heat's series against the Indiana Pacers, forward Udonis Haslem was back at work Saturday with his teammates.

Haslem was suspended for Game 6 of the Heat-Pacers series after he took down Pacers forward Tyler Hansbrough during the Heat's 32-point victory in Game 5 on Tuesday in Miami. Haslem traveled with the team to Indiana for Game 6, but the suspension prevented him from attending the game.

So instead, Haslem said Saturday he spent the evening in a suite watching the game at the downtown hotel where the Heat stayed in Indianapolis. Haslem got through the game like most fans - he grabbed a sports drink and a couple of bags of chips while sitting on the sofa.

He regretted not being there for his team, but not necessarily for taking up for teammate Dwyane Wade, who was fouled hard by Hansbrough on a previous play in Game 5 and was also assessed a flagrant-1 foul that was later upgraded to a flagrant-2 penalty.

In the video above, Haslem talks about being back on the court with his teammates as they prepare for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Monday. He also discussed what it felt like when Wade delivered him the game ball from the Heat's series-clinching victory over the Pacers as players boarded the team flight Thursday back to Miami.

Wade said Saturday he appreciates having Haslem at his side and revealed how deep their relationship runs.

"The biggest thing, I think, for all of us is we understand how much Udonis means to all of us," Wade said. "The foul that he took, you know, in a sense, was a foul for us. Obviously, he took a hard foul and got suspended for a game. With him not playing, we told him we were going to go out there and take care of business. I respect him, what the other captain brought - that toughness for our team."

Wade hopes Haslem stores the game ball away in a nice place. The two have been teammates with the Heat since they came into the league together in 2003. They are the only current members of the team from the 2005-06 championship season.

"For me, it's like having a big brother when you're going to school," Wade said. "You know ain't nobody going to mess with you. And if they do, you'll be calling your big brother."

Because of that, Wade said he tried not to react too angrily after he was fouled by Hansbrough. Wade sensed his most loyal teammate might not take it too well. Haslem has denied that retaliation was his motivation for the foul on Hansbrough.

"I tried to do my impression of trying to calm everything after I got hit, because I know it was a very physical hit," Wade said. "And I know how certain guys respond to that, when they see a guy kind of go after you. (Haslem) had a very good view of it because he was on the baseline when it happened."

Wade attempted to calm his teammates during a brief huddle.

"I tried to act like it was all good, 'Let's just move on guys,'" Wade said of his message. "But (Haslem) is not that guy. I didn't know that (hard foul on Hasbrough) was coming. But I was hoping that it didn't, because I know how thin we were and, like I said, the second guy always gets caught. But we got our guy back and we're ready to move on."

Miami Heat forward Udonis Haslem was suspended one game by the NBA on Wednesday for his flagrant foul on Indiana forward Tyler Hansbrough midway through Game 5.

Haslem will serve the suspension when the teams meet for Game 6 on Thursday in Indiana, with the Heat holding a 3-2 series lead and looking to close out the Pacers.

Haslem was scheduled to travel with the Heat on Wednesday to Indiana, but will not be allowed to attend the game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse as part of the normal suspension terms. The league also suspended Heat reserve center Dexter Pittman for his lunging elbow that took out Pacers reserve guard Lance Stephenson in the final seconds of Tuesday's game.

Both Haslem and Pittman attended the Heat's practice on Wednesday in Miami, although Pittman was not made available to the media after the workout. Haslem, a Heat co-captain, spoke with reporters after practice but before he learned of the NBA's ruling that was announced early Wednesday evening.

Q: What did you think of the team honoring your nine stitches by handing out promotional bandages to fans in Tuesday's game?
Haslem: It was cool. I'm glad they did it. I don't like being stitched up, but it's part of the process.

Q: Do you have any thoughts on what the league might do to you? Have you been in touch with the New York office?
Haslem: Nah. Nah. Yesterday was yesterday and today is today. I came in and I'm getting prepared for the next game with my team. Like I said, I'm waiting to see. But as far as I'm concerned, I'm going to just get ready for the next game.

Q: We saw you over there talking to Pat Riley after practice. What was his message to you?
Haslem: He just told me that yesterday was yesterday and today is today. He told me to just prepare your mind for the next game.

Q: Does the attention on all the hard fouls and rough play take away from the focus that the Heat have a chance to close out this series with a win in Game 6?
Haslem: Not at all. Not at all. It's the playoffs. So there's always some kind of noise. So we'll just focus on going in there, and it's going to be the most hostile environment we've faced so far. So we'll get mentally prepared to go to war.

Q: Is this series playing right into your comfort zone with all of the physical play, momentum swings and intensity?
Haslem: I'm enjoying the competition. Everybody is competing. Everybody is playing hard. It's playoff basketball. Seeds two and three. Eastern Conference ground and pound matchup. So it's a fun series to be a part of.

Q: Danny Granger reportedly said your foul on Hansbrough was as dangerous as Metta World Peace's elbow to James Harden's head. What are your thoughts on that?
Haslem: I'm not interested in no Danny Granger, man. That's why we've got league officials to look over that stuff and make that decision. I'm sure Danny Granger is going to say what he has to say to help his team. So, whatever. It's unfortunate that he feels that way.

Q: What do you think of Larry Bird calling his own team soft?
Haslem: I don't get into that. That's his opinion of his team. He's entitled to his opinion. We've got a game to play. What they're going through over there is between then and what they have going on over there.

Q: What do you expect from the crowd in Indiana?
Haslem: It's going to be a hostile environment. It's going to be a lot of noise. Very high intensity on both sides. It's going to be a highly competitive game.

Q: The fact that they were called Flagrant-1 fouls on the court and left there, do you think the league should respect the referees' decision without any further action?
Haslem: I hope so. I hope so. There's never been a Flagrant-1 that's gone from a Flagrant-1 to a suspension.

Q: You've done the research on that?
Haslem: Yeah. Something like that. But I would hope so. Like I said, those guys (referees) were right there and they saw it. So we'll see what happens.

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.

Udonis Haslem had a tough week.

In Game 1 against Indiana last Sunday, Haslem missed all four shots from the floor. In Game 2, he saw his playing time cut in half during a home loss. In Game 3, he was demoted to the reserve role for a rookie -- a rookie who had never played a playoff game, no less -- and played a season-low seven minutes in another loss.

Things were spiraling away from the Heat's co-captain. Perhaps the most prideful and dignified player on the roster, Haslem was forced to watch his team get demoralized in the series from the bench. He could do little but offer high-fives and encouragement, even though his team was getting crushed and pushed around on the floor. In just a week, Haslem was reduced from a crucial starter to a detached observer.

In an ideal world, Haslem was supposed to be the team's replacement for Chris Bosh after the All-Star strained an abdominal muscle in Game 1. But Haslem had been mired in the worst shooting slump of his career and wasn't effective in guarding Roy Hibbert, a center who stood about half a foot taller. With LeBron James shifting to the power forward slot, Haslem was the odd man out. It was a tough week, to be sure.

But on Sunday, however, Haslem got his groove back.

It started with a put-back dunk early in the second quarter, as Haslem rose up out of nowhere and slammed Dwyane Wade's miss with one hand. It was a stunning play from Haslem, considering it looked his shoes had been filled with cement over the last couple of weeks.

Then in the fourth quarter, it all came together for Haslem. And in doing so, it temporarily welded the Heat's Big Three again. With jumper after jumper, Haslem rediscovered his mid-range game that has made him so valuable as a floor-spacing big man over his career. Haslem scored 14 points in Game 4, the first time a Heat big man scored more than 10 points since Bosh went down.

What caused the change?

A little encouragement from James and Wade, Haslem told reporters in Indianapolis after the game.

"D-Wade and LeBron told me to just play my game," Haslem said. "Pick and pop.”

Ah, the pick-and-pop. For those who don't fall into the basketball junkie category, the pick-and-pop might be a foreign term. The "pop" refers to the big man who "pops" out to the mid-range area after setting a screen on the ball. Instead of rolling to the rim, the big man stays back for a jumper to clear the paint. For the 6-8 Haslem, rolling toward the 7-2 Hibbert and 6-10 David West wasn't a bankable strategy.

"I did some things out there that I was used to doing," Haslem said. "The pick-and-pop has really been my game the majority of my career, so instead of rolling to basket into those trees down there I just flared back. I’m more comfortable doing that than anything."

It's true Haslem stayed away from the basket area where he's getting blocked twice as often as his normal career rate. With the Heat up by five points heading into the final minutes of the fourth quarter, Wade and Haslem started running their pick-and-pop game. Wearing a bandage on a cut over his eye that required nine stitches after the game, Haslem found pockets in the Pacers defense and waited for the pass from his driving teammates.

The barrage started with a short jumper on the right baseline with just under six minutes left. Then another pop on the right side when the Pacers put two on Wade. Drilled it. And then another at the top of the key. Hit it again. And then the dagger with 1:12 left in the fourth quarter; he drained a jumper from the left elbow after Hibbert sunk into the paint to put the Heat up by seven.

For a five-minute stretch in the fourth quarter, Haslem matched the Pacers point-for-point, each tallying eight points down the stretch. Without Haslem's timely shot-making, the Heat might not have pulled away as they comfortably as they did.

This was vintage Haslem. The pick-and-pop game had vanished from his repertoire recently, and the Heat sorely missed that paint decongestant with Bosh sidelined. The Heat's offense sings when Bosh pulls opposing big men out of the key to cover jump shots (Hibbert or West, in the case of the Pacers). A pick-and-pop shooter becomes vital in opening up the lane for Wade and James to penetrate, but that had been stopped up recently.

Haslem, who had shot a measly 3-for-12 on jumpers in the playoffs heading into Sunday's game, wasn't a threat anymore. But now, he might be. If he can keep shooting that way in Game 5, the Heat should be able to get what they want offensively. So much of the Heat's offense requires an able pick-and-roll partner that draws the defense away from James and Wade.

To think Haslem's jump shot is suddenly cured might be a bit optimistic; it's just one game, after all. But for one game, the Heat found a replacement for Bosh as a member of the Heat's vaunted trio. By balancing the floor for James and Wade to thrive in the paint and grabbing rebounds, Haslem could be the most important player for the Heat going forward outside of the Big Two.

If Haslem can maintain his breakthrough scoring performance from Game 4 into Game 5 on Tuesday, the Heat may have found the pressure release they so desperately needed after Bosh went down.

"I just got back to my comfort zone," Haslem said. "Pickin' and poppin'."

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.

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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.

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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.”

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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.

MIAMI -- Dwyane Wade rarely picks on someone his own size.

Take Wednesday’s Game 5 versus the Knicks, for instance. In the third quarter of the Heat’s series-clinching victory, the 6-foot-4 Wade snuck over to guard the 6-foot-8 Carmelo Anthony in the post. Knowing he towered over the Heat’s undersized shooting guard, Anthony called for the ball on the block.

These are the moments that Wade lives for: the challenge of overcoming an enormous size disadvantage. After Wade parked himself behind Anthony in the post, Anthony spun toward the rim and saw daylight for a dunk. As the small forward rose up for the slam, Wade apparently had other plans. Wade leapt up from behind Anthony and spiked the ball into the hardwood. After getting his shot blocked by Wade, Anthony could only bow his head and sheepishly walk back on defense.

On Wednesday night, Wade tallied a series of highlight reel dunks and drilled a variety of memorable circus shots. But according to Wade, none felt better than the block on Anthony.

“Yeah, I enjoyed that,” Wade said with a laugh, reflecting on the highlights during the win. “Probably the most satisfaction I got was blocking my good ol’ buddy Melo.

“I always enjoy that, because I’m not supposed to do it as much as I have over my career.”

A player of Wade’s size shouldn’t be capable of denying forwards and centers. What sets Wade apart from all the great shooting guards in NBA history isn’t his ability to score, but his ability to prevent others from scoring.

More to the point, Wade might be the best shot-blocking guard the league has ever seen.

Wade added another two blocks to his name on Wednesday, and he had one of the best shot-blocking campaigns of his career, swatting 1.3 shots per game despite battling an assortment of minor leg injuries and playing a career-low 33.2 minutes per game.

How remarkable is that?

Consider the following. Wade blocked more than four times as many shots as the average shooting guard (0.3 blocks per game). On a per-minute basis, he blocked shots more often than Pau Gasol, Kevin Garnett, LaMarcus Aldridge and, yes, Chris Bosh and LeBron James, too. Said another way, you could tally up all the combined blocked shots by reputable defenders Tony Allen, Kobe Bryant and Avery Bradley this season -- and they still wouldn’t have more blocks than Wade this season.

Historically, we have no precedent. Wade is the only guard in NBA history to average a block per game over his career. The late Reggie Lewis trails Wade with a 0.9 blocked shot average and ranks second all-time. Other known shot-blockers such as George Gervin, Michael Jordan, David Thompson and Vince Carter all look up at Wade in the blocks category.

You don’t have to sell coach Erik Spoelstra on the notion that Wade is a once-in-a-lifetime shot-blocker. As someone who grew from video coordinator to head coach over a 17-year span in the Heat organization, Spoelstra has seen every one of Wade’s 712 blocks over his playing career. But to Spoelstra, it’s who he blocks, not how many, that makes Wade special.

“He’s a game-changer back there,” Spoelstra said. “I don’t know if there’s ever been a 2-guard that’s had as many off-the-ball shot blocks on big men as Dwyane has gotten.”

It's true. The average height of Wade's block victims his season was the same as the average height of Clippers center DeAndre Jordan's victims (6-foot-6). While centers are busy swatting shorter players, Wade routinely preys on taller players who, on average, are 2 inches taller than himself.

How does he pull it off?

“Awareness, alertness, instincts,” Spoelstra said. “And then you have the physical gifts. He’s 6-foot-4 on a good day, but he has that almost-7-foot wingspan and the big hands. He has a complete understanding of our system so his instincts are razor-sharp. He reads plays and reads people’s eyes.”

Spoelstra makes it a point to stress that Wade might not be as tall as he’s currently listed. This has been a topic of much debate -- and chiding -- in the Heat locker room. Just ask James.

“A lot of people don’t expect a 6-foot-3 guard to contest at the rim," James said. "If you’re a big man and you turn and you see D-Wade, you just look at his size and you don’t realize that he actually plays bigger than his size. A lot of people contest shots, but not many win that matchup.”

Wait, is Wade really 6-foot-3?

“He’s 6-foot-1 in my mind,” James joked. “My basketball card at home says he’s 6-foot-3 so we’ll leave it at that.”

Heat co-captain Udonis Haslem entered the Miami organization with Wade, but insists that Wade has never dunked on him in practice. If you ask Haslem about his favorite Wade block, he won’t hesitate to name it.

“Brook Lopez, and he blocked his shot twice,” Haslem recalled. “That was pretty impressive at 6-foot-1.”

Another height discrepancy.

“I’ve never said 6-foot-4, so there's no discrepancy on my end,” Haslem assured reporters. “LeBron says 6-foot-1 and he’s a pretty smart guy.”



Height scandals aside, Wade’s blocks on Lopez are just two blocks in Wade's catalog of denials against 7-footers and centers. There was the time when Wade pinned Dwight Howard’s shot to the backboard last season. There’s also the time he blocked Dirk Nowitzki’s seemingly unblockable jumper. And perhaps the most memorable of them all: Wade swatted Tyson Chandler’s dunk attempt in the Finals.

There’s no doubt that Wade has been the recipient of humiliation at the rim before. Many times. But to Wade, that’s just something that comes with the territory.

“Shot-blocking is first about courage,” Wade said. “Especially when you’re going to block somebody near the rim, it’s easy to get dunked on. You’re going to get embarrassed. I’ve had my fair share of those. Last year, when I got dunked on in the playoffs [by Taj Gibson], it was a big deal. That shows that I’m a shot-blocker, so I appreciate that.”

Wade rarely shies away from shot-blocking opportunities, and that's partly by design. In the Heat's mechanical defense, which was orchestrated by Pat Riley and sharpened by Spoelstra, Wade must make his presence felt underneath the rim. The Heat's defensive blueprint requires guards to act like big men underneath and wall off penetration.

It's something that newcomers in the Heat system have to get used to. Even a player like Shane Battier, who has studied defensive principles his entire career, needed time to adjust to Wade's shot-blocking talents.

"Earlier in the season," Spoelstra remembers, "Shane Battier was in a situation where Dwyane Wade was a low man and the big man caught it right at the rim and Shane went to foul. We told Shane, 'No, that’s not a fouling situation. Let Dwyane go up there and be a playmaker. That’s not a given even against a center.'"

As time went on, Battier got used to playing next to a 6-foot-4 basket protector, which is a luxury considering the Heat often play Battier and Wade without a traditional center. There's a reason why the Heat, who don't have a 7-footer in the rotation, held opponents to the second-lowest opponent field goal percentage at the rim, according to Hoopdata.com.

If you're wondering how the Heat manage to have one of the league's top defensive teams without a conventional lineup, look no further than Wade's team-leading 1.3 blocks per game.

"I take a lot of pride in it," Wade said. "If I can talk about anything in my statistical game, it’s my blocks. It’s the one thing I look at. Hitting game winners is great, but blocking somebody at the basket when they’re trying to dunk on you? Yeah, that’s pretty good. I feel bigger and stronger after that. Anytime that I can feel bigger than I am, I’m good."

NEW YORK – Wednesday evening, Chris Bosh was trying to arrange for a private jet to Miami for the birth of his son. Most of the Heat players were settling into their Manhattan hotel and thinking about dinner plans. Pat Riley and few other team staff were headed to Newark for a Bruce Springsteen concert.

LeBron James and Udonis Haslem, meanwhile, were on the street hailing a taxi. The directions to the driver were simple: “The Garden.”

Every player has routines and personal ways to prepare for big games. James’ has gotten more attention over the years. It’s because of who he is and they often seem to be grand in nature, even if he’s not looking for attention. Last year, his first in Miami, James kept wanting to spend extra time in AmericanAirlines Arena before playoff games.

During the series with the Celtics he called friends and went to the gym in the middle of the night to take some shots. On the eve of the Finals, he joined Dwyane Wade and Bosh in the middle of the empty arena just to take in the scene and share some bonding.

James had these thoughts again Wednesday following the flight in from Florida. After he came with teammates across the river from the airport, he re-boarded the team bus headed for Madison Square Garden. He’d never played a playoff game in the arena and he wanted to get the feel of the place. His people had made the calls and the lights were on and it waiting for him and Haslem, one of the Heat's team captains.

“You always get excited playing at the Mecca,” James had said. “I knew it was going to be emotional.”

Only the team bus broke down shortly after it left hotel, sending James and Haslem to the street in their workout clothes looking for another mode of transport. By the time they got over to Four Pennsylvania Plaza it was 9 p.m.

For an hour or so James, Haslem and a couple Heat staffers were on the floor. The players put shots up, broke a sweat and tried to find a comfort level. It was quiet, people working in the building huddled around televisions keeping an eye on the Rangers-Capitals playoff game down in Washington.

About 24 hours later, there were more than 19,700 fans all calling James a curse word.

“It’s not the first time but it’s the first time it was in unison like that,” James said. “Fans are going to be fans, I understand. I didn’t have much of a reaction to it.”

James reaction to the taunts was to shrug off turnovers and foul trouble to put together a brilliant fourth quarter that buried the Knicks and put the Heat up 3-0 in the series. Could any of that calm be attributed to his private commune with the Garden the night before?

“I was just happy we won the game,” James said.

James isn’t into talking much about his emotions these days. Other than a few outbursts at officials or Mario Chalmers, the teammate James calls his “little brother” that he seems to take out all his frustration on, James has been even-keeled so far during this first-round series. One of his friends described him as being Zen-like over the last two weeks.

Using his influence to get access to opposing arenas on off nights for extra work isn’t going to make James a champion this year. He’s got to do it when the place is packed and the pressure is on. But there’s little doubt about James’ focus at the start of this playoff run, perhaps his best chance yet to shed the burden he’s been playing under for as long as he can remember of getting that first title.

A few nights at the Garden, with the crowds and without, are the first steps.

MIAMI – As Mike Miller spoke with about a dozen reporters in front of his locker late Monday night, the Miami Heat swingman was continuously interrupted by the ring chime buzzing from the cell phone in his pocket.

“Man, you're blowing up,” someone told Miller, referring to the messages piling up on his cell.

“Yeah,” Miller responded, sounding slightly embarrassed. “I guess everyone just watched the game or something.”

The rest of the NBA postseason field might need to take notice, too, especially if the Heat's role players continue to perform the way they have to help boost Miami to a 2-0 series lead against the New York Knicks.

What the Heat displayed in the 104-94 victory in Game 2 was a sneak peek of exactly what stands to make this Miami team different than the squad that entered the postseason a year ago. With the exception of offseason free-agency pickup Shane Battier, the names and faces are the same from last year's postseason run that fell two games short in the Finals of winning a title.

But what the Heat are now showing is the difference a healthy, confident, aggressive and effective supporting cast can make around LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Miami entered the playoffs with one of the least-productive benches in the league, one that provided fewer than 25 points a game and is considered by some league analysts as the main reason Miami might again stumble in its quest for a championship.

But if two games are any indication of what could be in store throughout the playoffs, the Heat's supporting cast could provide the boost that puts them over the top. So far, they've executed to expectation.

This time a year ago, Miller and Udonis Haslem were severely limited in the playoffs by injuries that forced them to miss much of the regular season. Now, Miller is shooting 43 percent from 3-point range in the series while aggressively putting up shots he once tended to pass up. Meanwhile Haslem, despite still struggling with is offense, is leading the team in rebounding and has outworked Tyson Chandler and Amare Stoudemire on the boards while averaging just 20 minutes through the first two games.

“This is what we always envisioned, with those lineups being out there and the acquisition of Shane,” James said. “Just to have Mike in rhythm, seeing him shoot the ball like we know he can shoot the ball. Having (Haslem) as comfortable (and) as healthy as he's been the last year, and everybody else, is great. We just want it to continue.”

Entering the series, I gave the Knicks' role players a clear edge over the Heat's, but developments have swung the advantage in Miami's favor. Iman Shumpert's knee injury in Game 1 took him out of the mix and the Knicks have gotten very little from league 3-point shooting leader Steve Novak. Beyond J.R. Smith's occasional scoring outbursts, the Knicks' supporting cast easily has been outperformed.

By comparison, Mario Chalmers – when he's not being scolded by James for lapses – has averaged 12 points, 7.5 assists and only two turnovers through two games. And Battier has absorbed the brunt of the defensive assignment on Anthony, yet has still managed to rebound and hit a pair of 3-pointers in both games to sustain game-sealing runs.

“It helps a lot, especially with everybody comfortable,” Chalmers said. “So we're not favoring one person. Those guys (James, Wade and Bosh) are trusting us to make plays, and that's what we're doing. I wouldn't say it's a blueprint. But it's a good job of everybody contributing. When we play like this we're hard to beat. And it shows.”

It also reveals the potential the Heat have when at full strength. This time last season, coach Erik Spoelstra wasn't sure what he would get out of his rotation beyond James, Wade and Bosh in the postseason. But among the early answers in these playoffs is the spark provided by Battier, one Spoelstra says gives the Heat, “an element we didn't have last year.”

There might not be an individual task in the East during the playoffs for Battier tougher than matching up with Anthony.

“That's part of the reason why I'm here, why I thought I'd be a good fit,” Battier said after Game 2. “The playoffs are a different animal. It's good to know my teammates have confidence in me, my coaches have confidence in me. But it's not about stats, it's about making plays and winning games. That's the fun part, and that's why I'm here.”

Miller said the coaching staff has challenged the Heat's role players with three simple tasks going into each game.

Play hard. Bring defensive energy the moment they enter the game. And knock down open shots when they get them.

Battier and Miller, specifically, have a fourth mandate.

“They're putting more onus on us to shoot the ball, contested or not, just to open up the floor,” said Miller, who's attempted 14 3-pointers through two playoff games after averaging just three attempts in the regular season. “If we're shooting it, even when we're not making it, it's easier on those guys. When we're aggressive, make or miss, it makes people guard us, makes them account for us.”

It's that accountability factor that has the Heat heading to New York for the next two games of the series after having held serve in Miami. That accountability should also serve early notice to the league that there's an improved difference and depth with the Heat this time around.

Will it be enough to make up that two-game shortfall in the Finals last season? Time will tell as tougher challenges loom throughout the Heat's playoff run. But the early signs have been encouraging for those in the race.

“That's the blueprint for how we want to play,” said Bosh, who was then asked if the Heat are stronger now than they were in last year's playoffs. “I want to say yes, but you know how the playoffs are. They're so long. There are going to be a multitude of tests in this postseason. We're making improvements every day. Our bench has improved in confidence and production. I want them to keep improving, keep believing in themselves and do what they have to do so we can keep going forward.”

Miller probably got around to eventually returning the calls and texts that flooded his voicemail after the game. If not, you'll have to pardon him.

He's been a bit busy on the other end with the Heat's supporting cast trying to send potential playoff opponents a message.