The Heat flexed their muscle late in yesterdays game one win over the Pacers. The Pacers dug in early, but Miami's duo of James and Wade took over the game in the fourth quarter and buried the Pacers spirited effort to take a 1-0 series lead. A possible big blow shook the Heat right before halftime when Bosh went down with an injury after a dunk through traffic.
This injury did however seem to un-phase the Heat in the second half and should un-phase them going forward in this series. Bosh is an All-Star forward no doubt, but this series with the Pacers was not for him. Pacers big men, David West and Roy Hibbert were going to own the paint in this one no matter what. Bosh would have gotten beat up in every meeting and quite possibly would have been a broken man by the time the conference finals rolled around. Obviously if Bosh can return at any point in this match-up, he should. Bosh still would and could contribute. He's a dynamic player that can hit jumpers from the elbow and spread the floor even as a big man for James and Wade.
The Heat don't need that in this series though. What they need is guys who can match the physical play down low with the Pacers and Bosh can't do that. Guys like Joel Anthony, Ronny Turiaf, and Udonis Haslem need to step in not step up and create opportunities for James and Wade to get in the paint and score. Maybe even Eddy Curry can log minutes if he is healthy enough to go, (not a joke). Those four can take the brunt of the physical play while Bosh recovers and hopefully returns for the conference finals.
So for the short term the Heat should be able to game plan their way past Indiana's physical play without Bosh. The real trouble will arise if Bosh remains out for the next round, especially if they run into the Celtics who are playing as well as anyone right now.
West Semis Quick Picks:
Thunder over Lakers 4-3
Clippers over Spurs 4-3
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