Heat Tops Pacers to Draw Closer in Eastern Conference

The Miami Heat’s win over the Indiana Pacers by three points left us with more questions than answers as to which team may have the upper hand to be the Eastern Conference Champions at the end of the season.

This was the second meeting of the season between the two teams and now both teams have a win. Both have won on their home court as well. So does this mean home court is vital for the teams if they want to win a series between the two? Obviously, the Pacers would like to have home court advantage in a Game Seven since they lost Game Seven of the 2013 Eastern Conference Finals at Miami.  But for Miami, maybe not. Once a team has won two straight NBA Championships, they have to feel like they can win an elimination game anywhere.

Perhaps a bigger question is what was up with Lebron James going off on Mario Chalmers? He blew up during a timeout and looked like he might come to blows with Chalmers on the sidelines. Was that nothing or could that fester? Surely Chalmers, who has been part of two championships, as earned the right not to be embarrassed on the sidelines on national television. Could this effect team chemistry?

But the biggest question of all is when will the NBA catch up to the rest of the sports world and do something about the whistle swallowing refs at the end of ball games. Paul George was clearly shoved in the back by Lebron as he attempted a game-tying three pointer. But this old “Referees want the game to be decided by the players” mentality reared its ugly head yet again and decided this one.

By refusing to call a foul on an obvious foul, the refs decided that Miami would win the game. Had they done their job, George gets three free throws, and HE decides the game. Yes, a PLAYER decides the game. If he hits all three, the game goes into overtime. Do the Pacers win? Does the Heat win? We’ll never know now. We also don’t even know if he would have hit all three free throws. Had the ref called the foul, and the Pacers went on to win the game, would the Heat have the refs to blame that they were beaten in 5:00 of overtime? Hardly.

But one thing we do know. The Pacers and Heat are going to meet in the Eastern Conference Finals. And that will be a seven game all out knock down-drag out battle royale. The rest if this regular season, will be to determine where the all important seventh game will be played.