game 5: knicks (1) at heat (3), wednesday may 9th @ 7pm est

[RhapidKid]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMgdr3obsoI[/youtube]

LOOOL

[RhapidKid]

How do you beat a team like the Miami Heat?

They have guys like Wade, James, and we don't. We have guys like Bosh, actually. We're sort of a team of boshes in many ways. A bunch of guys who clearly cannot be "THE GUY" on a NBA franchise. Bosh compensates for this up by playing with 2 superstars. And he submits his 18 and 8 and plays his ass off.

That's like, our whole team. None of these guys is a superstar. Let's be honest, none of our guys is even a star, period.

We have a team of 2 veteran semi-stars in granger and west, guys who made a few all-star teams but whose name would not be recognized by the casual consumer outside of the markets they have played in. These guys are pros' pros. They earn their money.

We've got hibbert, a center who is 7'2", averaging a 13/9/2/2 and forcing teams to play differently than they would against most opponents, both on defense and offense. Turns in a steady defensive presence, some reliable hooks, a few blocks. Can you believe he was drafted 17th???

Paul George, complete x factor variable. Kid's got the defensive touch, you know? Who's to say it won't happen?

Darren Collison and George Hill make a nice duo, lot of options there.

Bench guys like Barbosa, Hans, Amundson all capable of big time play.

The Heat got lebron, wade, and bosh. Then they got what? What they got exactly? Can you tell me?

Old washed up guys. Haslem, Battier, Miller. All very good in their day, and certainly not without veteran savvy and skill, but all washed up. Mario Chalmers, one of the few starting point guards in the league who is definitively worse than darren collison. Finally Joel Anthony, who shouldn't even be on any respectable NBA team's playoff roster.

People forget that james wade and bosh only play 120 minutes combined on a normal night. That leaves another 120 minutes that need to be divided up among chalmers, haslem, battier, miller, and chalmers.

Can the Pacers best 120 minute combination (granger, west, hibbert) beat 120 minutes of james, wade and bosh? No. Just no. In a 3-on-3 game, this series (hell, the championship) would already be over and the Heat would win every time.

But can our other 120 minutes beat their other 120 minutes? It would be a slaughter. Collison, Hill, Barbosa, George, Hansbrough, Amundson versus Chalmers, Miller, Battier, Haslem, and Anthony. There is a pretty huge talent gap here people.

There's 5 players on the court at any given time, and I swear, so help me god, that (excluding the best 3 guys on both teams) any 2 of the pacers players on the court at any given moment will be and play better than 2 of the Heat players at any moment in the game. Think about it, and don't forget it. Whoever the Heat has on the court as their 4th and 5th guy, our 4th guy and 5th guy are better. I'll take Barbosa and Amundson over Chalmers and mike miller any day. I'll take Paul George and hansbrough over battier and haslem. I'll take Collison and freaking fes over chalmers and joel anthony.


The Pacers have a better opportunity to beat the Heat than almost any other team in this whole league and universe. You can't "shut down" the pacers because there is no on/off switch. There's no one or two guys who you can target and focus all your defense on.

Here is how the Pacers beat the Heat:

Run offense through Roy Hibbert a lot. Get West involved in pick and rolls. Try to make it an ugly game. Start racking up fouls early on both ends. Control the offensive rebounds, so the Heat can't fast break as much. Get a big scoring game from your point guards. Rely on George and Granger to give utter exhaustful effort on defense to the point that their offensive games will not be so good. Let Granger be a hang-out-for-corner-3 guy more in this series on offense, so he can be a defender.

It's really that simple.


EDIT: Got slightly off track there. To answer OP's question of whether DC should start:

Doesn't Matter. Pacers in 7.

GOAT post in pacers board :(:(

LOL yeah, I saw that.

This person must really feel good about himself.

LOL at least it was posted on their board and not the GB. It would be so much FAIL for him after the series though.

[DefenseWins]

TONY TROLLING KNICKS SO HARD ON HIS TWITTER LMAO!!! I might start following him. He was like, this is the DPOY? retweeting stuff about the real DPOY blocking the current DPOY.

And when Wade just went in there and dunked.

https://twitter.com/#!/TonyHEAT06

[FlashKing]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMgdr3obsoI[/youtube]

[-MK-]