2013 Playoffs: Pacers-Heat Game 4 viewer’s guide
By CHRIS GOFF
ISL Correspondent
Since the Pacers’ Game 3 loss on Sunday, David West has admitted frustration with the team’s defense, Roy Hibbert conceded that the Heat are too talented to account for all their strengths, and coach Frank Vogel expressed confidence in the Pacers’ ability to make up for recent deficiencies.
The Pacers have rallied back from ugly losses before. Their season depends on doing so again in Game 4, because the Pacers lost all three playoff series in franchise history in which they trailed 3-1.
Here are the trends and storylines to watch for on Tuesday night:
Low LeBron: Both Hibbert and West were adamant that Indiana’s defense has to do something different against LeBron James in the post. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra made a brilliant move in Game 3 by routing the attack through James down on the block. James’ defender, Paul George, was in awe of what the four-time MVP did with his back to the basket. Can the Pacers do anything about it? Clearly, the best strategy would be for George to gain 45 pounds of muscle by 8:30 p.m. But since that’s out, figure on some form of double team as the next best option. There is a downside. As noted here when Indiana tried shadowing Josh Smith post-ups in the first round, the Pacers simply are not used to double-teaming. They looked uncomfortable when Vogel tried the tactic against Smith. True help schemes were rarely seen in the regular season. Do the Pacers really want to now risk discarding their identity? Vogel talked about not wanting to -overreact” to James’ new ploy. But James says it’s a case of -pick your poison,” anyway. This Xs-and-Os chess match rates as one of the more intriguing subplots of Game 4.
Bench woes: D.J. Augustin (three points), Ian Mahinmi (four points), Tyler Hansbrough (four points, five rebounds) and Sam Young (two points) continued to struggle Sunday. Hansbrough and Augustin were good in the opener, but those remain the only impactful bench performances of the series for the Pacers. Reserves for the blue and gold don’t have to be world beaters, but it’s not too much to ask – especially in front of a friendly home crowd – for just one of that quartet to step up and be an X-factor. For Mahinmi, that could mean six or seven rebounds. Augustin could use a performance like he had in New York back on May 5. That afternoon he went for a playoff career-high 16 points. Hansbrough showed what he is capable of when he averaged 14.8 points and 10.1 rebounds in eight starts this year. Role players need to do a little more on every front.
Whistles: Vogel mentioned before the series that a major key to slowing the Heat would be Indiana’s ability to defend without fouling. Three games in, James, Dwyane Wade and Co. have taken 79 shots from the charity stripe – an average of 26.3 per game, more than three attempts above their season average. Putting teams on the line isn’t usually a big issue; Indiana was almost right at the league average as far as fouls committed in the regular season. While the Pacers are winning the head-to-head free-throw battle in these Eastern Conference finals as a result of their size, Miami’s totals are still too high. Indiana needs to better avoid the whistles and turn more of those Heat freebies into field-goal attempts. Otherwise, their own offense won’t be able to keep up on the scoreboard.
Recalibrating the offense: It’s a difficult question to raise, but at what point do the Pacers stop calling the plays that they are for Paul George and use him in a more limited off-the-ball role? George’s shooting obviously has been off – he has shot under 40 percent in 10 of 15 games this postseason – and is at 30 percent from 3 in the playoffs. One reason Indiana is struggling so mightily to take care of the ball is that George is being used as a playmaker. The coaching staff has underutilized point guard George Hill by making him a spot-up player in the halfcourt. With George shooting such a woeful percentage and turning the ball over on shoddy passes, perhaps the prospect of a daunting series deficit will lead the Pacers to run more stuff for Hill and finally feed him the ball.
