1. How can the Miami Heat improve in Game 2?
If LeBron had closed out, would he have blocked the shot? No.
Could he have possibly altered the shot? Yes.
When your best player doesn’t close out on a game-tying shot does that say something about your team’s mentality? Yes.
Hopefully, Game 1 was a wake-up call for the Miami Heat that the Indiana Pacers are a legitimate threat to the Heat’s title aspirations and that they need to do everything possible (even the little things, like, I don’t know, closing out the best player on the opposing team as they are taking the game-tying shot) to ensure victory.
This is not to say the Heat weren’t intense (just look at their reaction at the end of the game) but that there is a subtle difference between being intense and doing everything you can to win — and the Miami Heat need to do everything they can to win.
2. Should Roy Hibbert have been benched in Game 1?
It is so so so easy to Monday Morning quarterback. For example, if LeBron had taken a jumper instead of a layup, people wouldn’t be as uproariously anti-Frank Vogel as they are right now.
Hansbrough guarding Allen is not as bad a matchup as Hibbert guarding Ray Allen (which is the equivalent of a freight train trying to keep up with a Kawazaki motorcycle). The final thing is that even if Hibbert was in the game, Ray Allen was standing in the corner during LeBron’s drive, so Hibbert (who would have been guarding Ray Allen after he and Sam Young switched defenders) would have been in the corner, and not in any position to defend LeBron.
3. What is the most important match up for your team?
This series is going to be about rebounds, because there are going to be a ton of missed shots in this series due to a great Pacers defense and a bad Pacers offense. For example, in Game 1 there was a total of 91 missed shots. That’s a lot of rebounds, and whichever team can rebound the best (i.e. get those crucial offensive rebounds and corral defensive rebounds) is going to have those vital second-chance opportunities that determine whether one wins or loses a game.
This means that the battle in the paint (Bosh vs. Hibbert) is the most important match up for this team. Bosh brings a lot to the table (foremost, his ability to be a legit pick-and-pop threat) but he also needs to be tougher in the paint — Bosh only had two (two!!!) rebounds in Game 1. To put this into perspective, Norris Cole had four rebounds.
4. Who needs to step up the most tonight?
Dwyane Wade
5. What are your predictions for tonight’s game?
With the Indiana Pacers reeling from a very tough loss, and the Miami Heat motivated to take a 2-0 lead, the Miami Heat will win Game 2, 84-78.
My bold prediction for tonight is that Ray Allen and Udonis Haslem each score more than 15 points.