By Charles Jay
The Indiana Pacers are a team that, as most basketball bettors at VietBet know, drove itself hard this season in order to have the best record in the Eastern Conference. It was their intention to make the home court advantage throughout the conference playoffs work for them, but they were not able to “hold serve” in both games at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Now they have to travel to the American Airlines Arena for the next two games, and it is imperative that they attain at least a split against the Miami Heat there. if they don’t, they are going to leave themselves in a very precarious position, to say the least.
The Heat had an objective as well – not just down the stretch but throughout much of the season – to give Dwyane Wade some rest, because of the multiple injuries he has been bothered by – with the hope that it would pay off in the playoffs. That is actually starting to happen.
Wade and LeBron James led a nice surge in the fourth quarter of Game 2, combining for 22 points and helping Miami reverse things in the final minutes of the game as Indiana didn’t have a lot of answers. much of the credit in the game had to be given to the Heat for playing better defense, both in the respect that they held the Pacers to just 40% shooting, but also cut way down on their fouls. Indiana took 37 free throws in the first game in this series, but that figure sunk to 15 in Game 2. That made a big difference.
In the basketball playoff betting lines that have been posted on this game at VietBet, the Heat lays some points:
Miami Heat -6.5
Indiana Pacers +6.5
Over 183.5 points -110
Under 183.5 points -110
Indiana can’t blame their loss on not getting many second chances; in fact, they were able to pull down 16 offensive rebounds. It is arguable that David West and Roy Hibbert should have been able to get more than ten field goals.
Paul George, who was held to just one field goal in eleven attempts in the first half of Tuesday night’s game (4 of 16 overall), and got into a dangerous collision with Wade that led to a mild concussion, has been cleared to play in this game. That’s all well and good, but is he going to be in the right condition to improve on his poor shooting? Could he play 43 minutes or thereabouts again? These are critical questions for VietBet customers to have answered.
There is also a big difference between these teams when it comes to getting energy off the bench. While the Pacers got almost nothing at all in Game 2, basketball playoff bettors saw that the Heat really benefited from the contributions of two players in particular – Norris Cole came in to offer relief for Mario Chalmers and Wade and hit a couple of big triples, and Chris Andersen added quite a bit on defense and on the glass, grabbing twelve rebounds in 29 minutes. The Heat were +25 over the Pacers when he was on the court.
Could it wind up being a matter of Indiana being able to close the game? Maybe, and if it is, the Pacers will have their work cut for them, being they are playing against a team loaded with closers.
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