In a series that hasn’t had a clear favorite, Miami and Indiana are engaged in a tough-guy Eastern Conference Finals series, exchanging blows when no one seems to be willing to go down.

It was Indiana who threw the big punch on Saturday night, winning game 6 of the series 91-77 to avoid elimination and force final game 7 to this thrilling series.

Roy Hibbert was once again the big man problem for the Heat, finishing with 24 points and 11 rebounds while constantly being aggressive on defense, contesting Miami’s shots to hold them to just 36 percent shooting . Paul George scored 28 points along with 8 rebounds and 5 assists.

"Myself and David (West), we throw ourselves in the fray, in the paint. We like to muck it up," Hibbert said. "Paul and myself, we wanted to make sure we got this for him as well. We didn't want this to be our last game."

Instead of game 6 being Indiana’s last game for the season, the Pacers have managed to push the defending champions to the brink of elimination, themselves being just one win away from the NBA Finals for just their second time in franchise history.

The Pacers managed to tie the series for the third time against a seemingly invincible Miami team that won 27 straight games in the regular season, had a franchise record of 66 wins and won 23 of their last 24 road games before losing in game 4 and 6 in Indianapolis. The Pacers were emphatic in game 6, outrebounding Miami 53-33, outscoring them 44-22 in the paint and keeping the Heat to a poor 26 percent shooting from inside the arc.

For Miami, LeBron James scored 29 points on 10-21 shooting. Wade and Chalmers scored 10 points apiece. James had another great performance for the Heat, and has shown leadership after taking over in game 5 to score 16 points in the 3rd quarter to carry Miami to that win, reminding us that when he goes nuclear (Cleveland mode, as he stated after the game), he can do it all on the court.

Seems though that James will be needing more help from his teammates if they are to attempt a repeat.

Miami struggled in the beginning of the game, going just 3-22 from inside the arc. James, Wade and Bosh combined for 14-40, and Miami got its early points by 6-6 shooting from three point range.

It was an elimination game that looked like one too, as teams exchanged baskets and players ignored the physical plays going all around, struggling to win the fight on the road to the finals. The crowd built a hostile environment and that probably affected both teams, as Indiana missed some easy buckets early in the game. While Indiana could have gone to the locker room with a solid lead, Miami stayed close with a 1-point lead.

It was Miami who took control in game 5 in the third quarter to outscore 30-13 the Pacers. Now it seemed that things turned around completely, with Indiana keeping Miami to just six points in the first 8 minutes of the quarter, while going on a 14-2 run to turn the 1-point halftime deficit to a 66-49 lead.

"They just flat-out beat us in every facet of the game. They just outclassed us in that (third) quarter," Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said.

Miami missed Chris Andersen, who was suspended for the game after the league reviewed of his foul on Tyler Hansbrough to turn it into a flagrant 2 foul. With Andersen out of the game, the Heat had even more trouble keeping Indiana’s rebounders out of the box.

The Pacers have put up a serious fight against the defending champions and now have their biggest chance to pull the upset. Miami needs to summon all of its strengths to put down a fighting team in an Eastern Conference Finals series that now is what most of the games between the two teams were: up for grabs. 

VAVEL Logo
About the author