Miami Heat put Indiana Pacers’ flaws on display in battle of the East giants

The Indiana Pacers

In their final meeting of the regular season with the two-time defending champions Miami Heat, the rested starters of the Indiana Pacers had the chance to seal the top seed and head into the Playoffs with home court advantage. Instead, they were completely outplayed, losing 98-86.

Despite Dwyane Wade sitting out with a hamstring injury to miss his ninth straight game, the Heat traded blows and fought for every inch with the Pacers and went to the locker room with a three-point lead. They blew the game wide open in the third quarter when they went on a 20-2 run in the first six minutes of play.

After the Pacers’ reserves beat the Milwaukee bucks all by themselves and having seen Thursday’s lively and enthusiastic team practice in Miami, Pacers fans were upbeat about their team changing their sliding fortunes with a statement win on Friday. However, the showdown not only snatched the top seed from them but also highlighted a few of their problems on a nationally televised game.

Indiana has two games remaining in the season and then a three-day break before they begin their Playoff campaign against the Charlotte Bobcats or the Atlanta Hawks. So the three days should be sufficient time for the team to dwell on its issues, which have led to some embarrassing losses against teams like the Atlanta Hawks in the past month.

Here is where Indiana is currently losing it and could lose it later on if they don’t fix it:

Roy Hibbert’s alarming dip in form

Roy Hibbert

There is something seriously wrong here; as a team you cannot have a 7 foot 2 inch center who averages only 11 points and 6 rebounds for the season and 9 points and 3 rebounds over the last 10 games. He has got to make more of an impact, but at present Hibbert has lost all his confidence, or at least that’s what his play seems to suggest, with an average PER (Player Efficiency Rating) of -3.2 over the past couple of weeks.

His presence and activity in the paint anchor the once league-leading Pacers defence, and with his disappointing performances of late it’s no surprise that the defence has slumped drastically in the past two months.

He has had more antics off the court than on the court, with his comments in March about how he wasn’t happy with the current selfish play going on in the team. Against the Heat he didn’t show up – he made just one rebound the entire game and took 7 shots, all in the second half in 33 minutes played.

If the Pacers are determined to not just meet but beat the Heat in the Conference Finals, they are going to need their defensive anchor in Hibbert from last year’s Playoffs to make a return.

Defensive wobbles

Pacers have a lot of issues to take care of on both ends of the floor and Paul George working on his game is certainly on of them.

Their defensive rating up to the All-Star break broke records, but the story after the All-Star weekend has been quite the opposite, to say the least.

A team which used to win games by restricting their teams to fewer than 95 points on a consistent basis, has now given away close to more than 90 points in 10 of its 13 losses since March.

Their defence is not known to be grinding like that of the Memphis Grizzlies or principle-based like that of the Chicago Bulls but they got the job done night in and night out thanks to the personnel on their roster. Hibbert and their loaded front court complemented Paul George and Lance Stephenson, two of the best perimeter defenders in the league.

Fatigue might be the issue here given the amount of minutes the starters have played in the early part of the season in their quest for the top seed. The players seem to be slightly easygoing in their approach and in the game against the Heat were hedging on pick and roll very well, but the big men were not getting back to their man quick enough, leading to easy buckets.

Hedging on a pick and roll is about the big man putting his feet and stopping the ball handler to penetrate while his teammate fights over the screen to get in front of his man, as shown in the video by Lamar Odom when he was with the Los Angeles Lakers.

http://youtu.be/prfGMM9_S3U

Slumping offence and damaged chemistry

On the other end of the floor turnovers are the biggest concern for the Pacers especially because those are what their rivals Miami Heat feed on. The team as a whole, barring David West, has struggled to keep their initial offensive momentum of the season going. Also, due to Paul George’s declining shooting percentages each month, the team does not have that one player they can give the ball to in crunch time.

Sloppy passes, horrid shooting nights, guards failing to penetrate into the defence and their big men failing to make an impact on the boards are the few of many more items on Head Coach Frank Vogel’s check list as he looks to motivate his team to regain their focus and strive.

Their defence fuels their performance on the other end of the floor and thus should be given more focus and attention before the Playoffs tip-off on 19th April in six days.