Pacers vs. Heat: What Indiana Must Do to Win Game 5

The Indianapolis Pacers suffered a debilitating loss at the hands of the Miami Heat on Sunday, as the series is now tied 2-2 heading back to Miami for Game 5. 

Coach Frank Vogel and the Pacers had a 12-point halftime lead but saw that evaporate midway through the third quarter when LeBron James and Dwyane Wade went off.

If the Pacers want any chance at winning Game 5 at the AmericanAirlines Arena, here's what they'll have to do.

 

Feed the Ball to Roy Hibbert

Why cant Vogel see what the casual fan is seeing? Hibbert took far too few shots in Game 4 (nine) after he put up 19 points the previous contest. You have to give credit to Joel Anthony and Ronny Turiaf for banging around down low and preventing Hibbert from getting easy baskets, but nine shots? That won't do it.

Hibbert was largely ineffective in Game 4, scoring just 10 points while pulling down nine rebounds. He followed up his coming-out party in Game 3 with a real stinker in Game 4. All we heard was that he's one of the few true centers left in the game, which he is, but a true center doesn't pull down only nine rebounds in a pivotal game of the Eastern Conference Semis.

Hibbert was only able to rack up one block, a testament to how effective the Heat were around the rim, but the 7'2" center needs to do some stepping up of his own if he wants his team to emerge victorious from Game 5.

 

Stop Dwyane Wade

It's basically a foregone conclusion that LeBron is LeBron and he's going to get his points no matter what you do. He scored 25 points and people are still on his case about how bad he played. That just shows you how good he really is.

But Wade, on the other hand, really had a problem in this series up until Game 4. He was dealing with a bunch of lingering injuries and a rift with his coach, but Indiana still had to do their part to shut him down. He shot just 2-of-13 from the field in Game 3, but followed up the worst playoff performance of his career with a 13-for-23, 30-point performance in Game 4.

If they can stop Wade and throw him off his game early, he'll have no choice but to put the load on LeBron, something that we've noticed King James has a hard time shouldering in big games.

 

Protect the Paint

No matter what the Heat may think of themselves at times, they are absolutely not a jump-shooting team. Teams play the best against Miami when they keep them out of the paint and force them to hoist up jumpers every time down the floor. I'm not saying that's a concrete plan for victory, but it certainly would give the Pacers a better shot.

Danny Granger has to step up like he showed us he could in Game 3. In the third game of the series, he refused to back down from LeBron and played great face-up defense on the MVP. In Game 4, he wasn't terrible, but he has to do a better job of keeping James out of the paint.

Once James gets in the paint, Hibbert has to come help, which leaves the backside open for Wade to sneak in for a backdoor pass. This is something that we've seen countless times over the course of the season and Granger surely knows what he has to do to propel his team to victory.

If he doesn't face-up on LeBron, the Pacers will be heading back home for Game 6, looking at an uphill climb to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1190150-pacers-vs-heat-what-indiana-must-do-to-win-game-5

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