It was expected that Miami would face this game against Indiana with a much serious mindset than their regular routine of playing very relaxed during the regular season. Indiana had beaten Miami twice at home earlier on the season and they were the only team that Miami hadn't defeated this season. By the way, with their win on this game, Miami has now defeated all the other 29 teams this season! This is something very impressive, especially with 21 games to go on the regular season for them!
The Heat's task on defense was relatively easy. Like I had said on my Top Play on the Under, Miami would have to live with the fact that the Pacers are bigger than them down low and they wouldn't be able to stop Roy Hibbert and David West. However, the Heat could never allow Indiana's guards to shine like they had done in the first games between these two teams this season, especially in the second game, where the Pacers shot 7-17 3pts with George Hill, Lance Stephenson and Paul George shooting a combined of 16-31 (51.6%) FG!
Well, the Pacers's frontcourt dominated this game with a combined of 14-24 FG, but the Pacers's backcourt was completely shutdown by a suffocating Heat defense! George Hill, Lance Stephenson and Paul George shot a combined of 5-21 (24%) FG, while the Heat also forced Indiana to commit 18 turnovers, on an impressive defensive performance from Miami!
Offensively, Miami torched the Pacers's defense, on an area where they are quite vulnerable if we can talk about vulnerable areas on Indiana's defense! We all know that Indiana is a top defensive team in rim defense and in 3pts defense, as they want their opponents to take the worst possible shot in basketball: the 16-23 feet jump shooter. The problem is that Miami is #1 on 16-23 feet FG with 44.5% FG and in that game, the Heat was superb making those long range shots, absolutely crushing Indiana's elite defense in the process!
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