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HoopIdea wants to #StopTheFlop. To spotlight the biggest fakers, we present Flop of the Night. You can help us separate the pretenders from the defenders -- details below:

Mario Chalmers, who made three of four 3-pointers in Game 6, is becoming the Miami Heat's version of Lakers championship era Derek Fisher. Disruptive defense, spot up shooting ... and, of course, flopping. Chalmers has even mastered Fisher's ability to draw fouls by driving headlong into traffic and tossing the ball toward the basket.

Last night, he drew an offensive foul (video) on a moving screen from Roy Hibbert with Fisher's typical flair for the dramatic.

Working the play-by-play, ESPN's Mike Breen points out that the referee on the scene got the call right, but Jeff Van Gundy was still annoyed by Chalmers' act and suggested a flopping rule similar to the NHL's restriction on "Embellishment":

Breen: Well, Hibbert was clearly moving. You can say that he flopped, but that’s a foul.

Jeff Van Gundy: You see that’s where my flop rule will come into play. If you flop, even if you were fouled -- which he was -- you’re not gettin’ it!

Maybe Chalmers would "get it" in Jeff Van Gundy's world, but his theatrical reaction and the discussion it sparked was enough for him to get our Flop of the Night.

When you see an egregious flop that deserves proper recognition, send us a link to the video so we can consider it for Flop of the Night. Here's how to make your submission:

• Alert HoopIdea to super flops with the Twitter hashtag #FlopOfTheNight (follow us on Twitter here).
• Use the #FlopOfTheNight hashtag in Daily Dime Live.
• E-mail us at hoopidea@gmail.com

Game 6 between the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers (ESPN, 8 ET) will feature several key storylines to watch, including how the Heat replace a suspended Udonis Haslem. Miami will be without one of its best mid-range shooters, as Haslem has made seven mid-range jump shots (outside paint, inside 3-point territory) this series, trailing only LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.

Haslem has also been a spark off the Heat's bench in the last three games, scoring double figures in each of the last two. In three games Haslem has come off the bench this postseason, Miami averages 25.7 bench points. In seven games Haslem started, the Heat have gotten only 16.1 points from their bench.

With Dexter Pittman also suspended, the best option for the Heat is likely Ronny Turiaf, as his +13 this series is the highest among the Heat's available big men for Game 6. In this series, Turiaf has played only 65 minutes in five games. However, when he's been on the court, the Heat have outscored the Pacers by 13 points. Miami has also limited Indiana to just 33 percent shooting when he's playing. Also available in the frontcourt are Joel Anthony (+7) and Juwan Howard (+5).

Overall, the Heat appear to be in good position to advance. In NBA history, teams that have held a 3-2 lead in a best-of-seven series have gone on to win the series 85.9 percent of the time, including 4-0 in the First Round this postseason. In addition, the Pacers have never come back to win a best-of-seven series after trailing 3-2 (according to Elias they are 0-8 all-time).

James has been a prime reason why the Heat can close out the series tonight. He has recorded at least 30 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists in back-to-back postseason games, and if he matches those numbers in Game 6, he will become the first player in NBA history to do so in three consecutive postseason games.

History says James will have another strong performance tonight. According to Elias, James has scored at least 20 points in each of the last 11 potential playoff series-clinching games on the road, the second-longest current streak of any player in the league, behind only Kobe Bryant (19).

Meanwhile, Danny Granger (sprained ankle) has said that he will start Game 6. His play will be crucial, as he has been much better at home this series than on the road (averaging over nine points more at home).

What's more, the combination of himself, Paul George, Roy Hibbert, George Hill and David West have outscored opponents by 75 points when on the court together, the highest of any five-man lineup on any team this postseason.

A key for Indiana will be on the boards. The Pacers have outrebounded the Heat 102-76 in their wins in Games 2 and 3, but have lost the battle on the boards in their losses in Games 4 and 5 (outrebounded 96-73). When Hibbert is on the court, the Pacers are +15 rebounding, but with him off are -19.

Starting center Roy Hibbert has been in foul trouble in both games that the Indiana Pacers have lost to the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
In the second half of Game 1, Hibbert sat for 11 minutes, 25 seconds spanning the third and fourth quarters, which is one reason the Heat outscored the Pacers by 14 points on field goals less than five feet from the basket in the second half.

Overall in Game 1, the Heat outscored the Pacers, 40-22, inside of five feet from the hoop.

In Game 4, the Pacers were minus-8 with Hibbert off the court, and minus-5 in rebound differential. With Hibbert on the bench from the 5:03 left in the third quarter until 6:11 left in the fourth, the Heat made seven field goals -- including six within 12 feet of the basket (three each by Dwyane Wade and LeBron James).

Even without an inside scorer, the Heat have attacked the basket when Hibbert has been out of the game.

During the regular season, the Heat shot 62.3 percent on field goals less than 5 feet from the basket, which ranked fourth in the NBA (league average was 59.5).

With Hibbert on the floor, Miami’s field goal percentage inside of 5 feet drops to 51.7; however, with Hibbert on the bench, that percentage shoots up to 64.6. What’s more, the Heat attempt more than 42 percent of their shots inside of 5 feet when Hibbert is off the court, compared to less than 30 percent when Hibbert is playing.

There's been lots of speculation as to why Dwyane Wade was so painfully ineffective in Game 3 -- including reports that he may actually be in pain.

On the NBA Today podcast, Bucks forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute attributed some of the Heat star's struggles to the absence of Chris Bosh.

Later in that same podcast, David Thorpe notes that Wade simply looks like he's lost a step, and Paul George is doing a great job of using his incredible length and quickness to cut him off in isolation sets.

But Wade is also one of the best in the league at using pick-and-rolls to feast on defenses, and it's on those opportunities that his lack off aggressiveness is truly puzzling.

Perhaps we should doff our caps to Pacers coach Frank Vogel for designing a sharp strategy to neutralize the dynamic wing on this action.

Or maybe not.

Over on Pacers-themed blog Eight Points, Nine Seconds, Jared Wade goes to the tape, and finds no such wizardry.

An overwhelming majority of the times that LeBron, Wade and Chalmers have dribbled off a high screen, they have found themselves open. The guy defending them is busy fighting through the screen and the big man, as previously mentioned, is hanging back five feet in “free-safety/rim protection” mode. So they are open. It’s just that they are open in a way that they are unaccustomed to being open.

That has generally not deterred LeBron from being effective. He has still found many ways to score and create for teammates. Most impressively, he has resorted to a little running floater in the lane that I have hardly ever seen him take. It really is amazing. To deal with an unfamiliar way of being defended, he has basically created an entirely new weapon.

LeBron has also consistently found other ways to ensure that the Heat’s pick-and-roll attack — one of the most vital aspects of Miami’s offense — continues to be productive regardless of how it is defended.

In striking, baffling, puzzling contrast, Dwyane Wade has shown no such ability to adapt.

The video above is a horror flick for Heat fans.

Throughout the series, he has been confounded while coming off the screen with the ball. He has turned it over repeatedly, missed pull-up jumpers, missed floaters, missed layups, thrown poor passes and generally just been useless leading the pick-and-roll in all three games.

There really is no good way to explain exactly why such a talented player is having so much trouble making the right decision when he finds himself virtually unguarded dribbling off a screen. In this respect, two Wades are baffled.

In the clip above, just look at how many little hiccups there are in his attack and how indecisive his actions generally look. LeBron’s hesitations, on the other hand, are measured, change-of-pace moves that help create more space to attack.

Dwyane's hesitations just look like a guy who is clueless on what to do next.

It doesn't sound good, but we've seen this number before from Wade.

He struggled to do much of anything against the Celtics -- a team renown for its consistently excellent pick-and-roll defense -- throughout the regular season last year, then torched them on 52.5 percent shooting in five games during the playoffs.

For all the speculation about LeBron James' mental makeup, Wade's inconsistent effort (not to mention that blown layup at the end of Game 2) has largely gone uncriticized. The hometown hero with a ring to boot, Wade has escaped the sort of inspection many feel LeBron demands.

Maybe Wade just needs a day off to uncork another vintage performance.

But if the Heat can't recover from his current funk? Then, for the first time since he and James joined forces in Miami, it may be Wade who has to do the explaining.

The longer the Indiana Pacers can keep their starting five on the court, the better chance they have to eliminate the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Indiana’s starting five of Paul George, Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert, George Hill and David West has been the most successful five-man lineup in this year’s postseason. It has a better plus-minus, has scored more points and has a better rebounding margin than any other five-man lineup in the playoffs.

In eight postseason games, Indiana's starting five has outscored its opponents by 79 points and outrebounded them by 68.

During the regular season, George, Granger, Hibbert, Hill and West started just eight games together, and the Pacers were 7-1 in those games. They played just 229 minutes together and outscored their opponents by 72 points.

In the playoffs, they’ve already played together for 176 minutes, and the formula continues to be successful.

This postseason, Indiana’s starting five:

• Has more than double the second-chance points (70) of any other five-man lineup. (Second are the Lakers and Magic with 30.)

• Leads all lineups in points in the paint (152) and points off turnovers (58).

• Has outscored its opponents by 56 points in the paint (152-96), has 30 more second-chance points (74-44) and 18 more fast-break points (42-24).

When George, Granger, Hibbert, Hill and West were on the court in Game 3, they outscored the Heat 68-40.

The starting five shot 52 percent from the field (including 6-of-10 on 3-pointers) and outrebounded the Heat 32-15. That lineup held the Heat to 33 percent shooting from the field and 1-of-10 on 3-point attempts. They also outscored the Heat 13-0 on second-chance points.

Every other Pacers lineup was outscored by nine.

Since the 2008 playoffs, only four lineups have finished with a plus-minus that’s been as good as Indiana’s +79. Three of those teams reached the NBA Finals and two won the NBA championship, including the Mavericks’ lineup last year of Tyson Chandler, Jason Kidd, Shawn Marion, Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry.

Statistical support for this story from NBA.com.

After they split two games in Florida, the Indiana Pacers returned home and handed the Miami Heat a 19-point loss Thursday night to take the series lead.

The Pacers lost their first playoff game at home, against the Orlando Magic, but have won their past three home games by a combined 52 points. All three of the victories have been by at least 15 points.

The key Thursday was Roy Hibbert, who finished with 19 points and 18 rebounds, both of which are career playoff highs. With Hibbert on the floor this series, the Pacers have outscored the Heat by 30 points; when he has been on the bench, they’ve been outscored by 17.

After not getting any support for LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in Game 2, the Heat’s leading scorer Thursday night was Mario Chalmers. It was the first time in 29 playoff games over the past two seasons that the leading scorer wasn’t one of the Big Three.

The Heat needed those points to offset the lack of production by Wade, who scored just five points. It was the second-lowest scoring playoff game in his career and the first time he scored fewer than 10 points since the first postseason series of his career, in 2004.

Part of the reason for his lack of scoring was his inability to get inside. Eleven of his 13 shots were from at least 10 feet out. His two field goal attempts from inside 10 feet were his fewest this season -- regular season plus playoffs -- and second fewest of his postseason career.

Wade didn’t have any more success filling the stat sheet elsewhere. Among players on the court for at least 35 minutes, he was the first since Eric Snow in 2001 to record no more than five points, rebounds or assists while turning the ball over at least five times.

The Heat have struggled to get out in transition against the Pacers. They scored 10 transition points on 39 percent shooting in Game 3 and have been outscored in transition over the first three games of the series.

Against the New York Knicks in the first round, the Heat shot 59 percent in transition and scored 39 more points than they allowed.

The Heat are even having trouble on open jumpers. In unguarded, catch-and-shoot situations, Miami made just two of 12 shots in Game 3. Against the Knicks, the Heat made 42 percent of these shots.

This is the eighth time LeBron’s team has lost back-to-back games in a playoff series. If the past is any indication, it doesn’t look good for the Heat. James’ team lost six of those previous seven series, including the past five.

Statistical support for this story from NBA.com.

The Miami Heat were in a zone against the Sacramento Kings' zone defense in their 120-108 win on Tuesday night.

The Kings spent almost the entire first half trying to contain the Heat’s potent half-court offense by playing a zone . That’s something that had worked for other teams earlier this season, but not for the Kings in this contest.

The Heat entered having scored on 42 percent of their possessions against zone defenses. But the Kings' zone posed no problems. The Heat scored 47 points against Sacramento’s zone defense, shooting 65 percent against it.

Heat guard Mario Chalmers tied a career-high by making six three-pointers. Four of those came on spot-up jumpers. He typically averages a pair of baskets on spot-ups per game.

The Heat have won seven straight games by 10 or more points, the second-longest streak in Heat franchise history. The last time a streak of seven or more such wins occurred in the NBA was when the Heat won a team-record nine in a row last season.

Reversal of Fortune
The Portland Trail Blazers ended the San Antonio Spurs 11-game winning streak on a night in which Tim Duncan and Tony Parker both sat to rest.

This was a game that was over early. One night after scoring a franchise-record low seven points in the first quarter, the Trail Blazers tallied an NBA season-high 41 first-quarter points.

The 137 points that Portland scored in its win was its most since 1997. The 40-point defeat was the Spurs worst defeat, also since 1997.

Feat of the Night
Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert scored a career-high 30 points in an overtime win against the New Orleans Hornets.
Hibbert hadn’t even reached the 20-point mark in his last 14 games.

The primary reason for his success on Tuesday? Offensive rebounding.

Hibbert had seven offensive rebounds and converted five baskets from them, netting 11 points for himself. He entered averaging only 2.4 points from offensive rebounds (so around one basket) per game.

Plus-Minus Note of the Night
All four Cleveland Cavaliers reserves had a positive plus-minus, and all five of their starters had a negative one in their 101-100 win over the Detroit Pistons.

The most notable of the Cavs subs was Alonzo Gee, who had 16 points and 11 rebounds. In his 25 minutes, the Cavaliers outscored the Pistons by 14 points. It was his second-best plus-minus of the season.

A look at the six players making their first All-Star Game appearance this season.

• Luol Deng, who is averaging 16.0 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, is one of two All-Stars from the Chicago Bulls. Deng has been arguably the most valuable defender on one of the best defensive teams in the NBA.

When Deng is on the court, the Bulls are allowing just 90.9 points per 100 possessions. When he’s off the floor, that number jumps to 99.9 and opponents are shooting almost three percentage points better from the field.

• At 18-8, the Philadelphia 76ers are off to their best 26-game start since the 2000-01 season, a year they went to the NBA Finals. A large part of their success this season has been due to the play of Andre Iguodala, who is averaging career highs in 3-point percentage (39.0) and rebounds (6.7).

Iguodala has been most productive in transition this season where he’s collected 86 points, the most he’s recorded among all play types.

• In his fourth season, Roy Hibbert has blossomed into one of the best young centers in the NBA. He’s averaging career highs in points (13.6), rebounds (9.9) and field goal percentage (50.9). Hibbert’s biggest improvement has been in the post.

• Andrew Bynum is averaging careers highs in points (17.1) and rebounds (12.6), and is one of only three players in the NBA averaging at least 17 points and 12 rebounds this season. Bynum has done his damage close to the basket; his 5.5 field goals per game inside five feet are second in the NBA only to his All-Star teammate Blake Griffin (6.1).

• LaMarcus Aldridge is averaging a career-high 23.3 points per game, fifth in the NBA. He’s been dominant in the halfcourt offense where he’s scored 564 points this season, second behind only Kobe Bryant.

• Despite older brother Pau being left off the team, little brother Marc Gasol will be a Western Conference reserve as the only All-Star from the Memphis Grizzlies.

Gasol has established himself as one of the elite post defenders in the NBA; he’s averaging a career-high 2.2 blocks per game (fourth in the NBA), and among players who’ve defended at least 50 post-up plays, he’s allowing the third-fewest points per play this season (0.58).

A new season means a new outlook on game-winning shots for Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade.

Wade's game-winning layup on Friday was his second game-winning field goal in as many days.

Before making the game-winner against the Bobcats on Thursday, Wade had missed his last ten potential game winning or tying attempts with under 10 seconds left in the fourth quarter or overtime.

In the previous four seasons, Wade was a combined 4-for-37 (11 percent) from the field on these shots, the second worst field goal percentage in the league. Joe Johnson was the only one worse in that span -- (2-for-23, 8.7 percent).

Wade is 6-for-7 this season on shots that have been generated off side-out-of-bounds situations. This was his only such shot attempt in this game, capping a contest in which the Heat went 6-for-6 on possessions that came off side-outs.

This was the fifth time in his career that LeBron James played on his birthday, the second time he won (he’s won his last two birthday games). In those five games, he’s averaging 35 points, shooting 56 percent from the field.

James notched his 38th career 30-point, 10-assist game on Friday, the last assist coming on Wade’s hoop. It's the most such games among active players, one more than Wade.

Elsewhere in the NBA
Nifty 50
Dwight Howard notched the 50th game of his career with at least 20 rebounds, his second such game in a row. His 50 are the most of any active player, eight more than Ben Wallace.

Memories of The Dutchman
Roy Hibbert had 17 points and 13 rebounds on Friday for the Pacers, his third double-double in three games this season.

Hibbert is the first Pacers player to start a season with at least 10 points and 10 rebounds in his team's first three games since Rik Smits in 1991-92.

Elias Stat of the Night
With the Detroit Pistons loss to the Boston Celtics, Pistons head coach Lawrence Frank has now lost 20 consecutive games as a head coach (17 of those were with the New Jersey Nets) joining Byron Scott as just the second coach in the last 10 years to lose 20 or more consecutive games.

Plus-Minus Stat of the Night
Dallas Mavericks center Ian Mahinmi was a plus-21 in his team’s first win of the season, a 99-86 triumph over the Toronto Raptors, a 35-point swing for him. He was minus-14 in a buzzer-beating loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night.

It was the second best plus-minus for Mahinmi in his career, a point shy of his best, which came last season in a win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Mahinmi was 6-for-6 from the field, the second time in his career that he made at least six baskets in a game without missing a shot.

The Miami Heat won their fifth straight game on Monday beating the Milwaukee Bucks on the road 88-78. Dwyane Wade led all scorers with 25 points and grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds. It was Wade's second straight game with 25 points and 10 rebounds, the first time he's had that many rebounds in back-to-back games in his career.

LeBron James scored 17 points, his lowest total since October 29th and just the second time in his last 19 games he's scored fewer than 20 points.

Miami is now 10-1 this season when allowing 90 points or fewer and 4-7 when allowing more than 90.

During their five-game win streak, the Heat are allowing 82.2 points per game as opposed to 98.0 points per game in their previous five games, four of them losses.

Elsewhere around the NBA:

FROM THE ELIAS SPORTS BUREAU: Amar'e Stoudemire scored 34 points and made 15 of 23 shots in the Knicks’ win on Monday. It’s the fifth straight game in which Stoudemire has scored at least 30 points while making at least 50 percent of his field goals, tying a Knicks record. Bernard King had two five-game streaks in the 1984–85 season in which he scored at least 30 points and made at least half his shots from the floor.

FROM THE ELIAS SPORTS BUREAU: The Bulls held the Thunder to 29 field goals on 82 shots on Monday, 35.4 percent. That ties Oklahoma City’s third-lowest field-goal percentage in any game over the last three seasons (since the start of the 2008–09 season).

FROM THE ELIAS SPORTS BUREAU: The Hawks defeated the Magic in Orlando on Monday, 80–74. Orlando had won 66 of its previous 70 home games when allowing fewer than 90 points.

FROM THE ELIAS SPORTS BUREAU: Roy Hibbert and Josh McRoberts each had six assists and Danny Granger had five in the Pacers’ win over the Raptors on Monday. It’s the first time since Feb. 1, 2008 that a team had at least five assists from all three members of its starting frontcourt; the Lakers were the last team to do it, with a starting trio of Ronny Turiaf, Vladimir Radmanovic and Lamar Odom.