Sunday finally gave NBA diehards the series that was promised to them all season long: a Heat vs. Pacers clash with an appearance in the NBA finals at stake. When the Pacers nearly lost to the eighth seeded Hawks a couple weeks back, the matchup appeared to be in jeopardy.
But the Pacers took game seven and then knocked off the surprisingly dangerous Wizards, setting up the clash between the only two legitimate contenders in the Eastern Conference.
Game one on Sunday gave us the Pacers squad we wanted. Roy Hibbert was Roy Hibbert, Paul George dumped in 24 points, and while LeBron and Wade played their part, Indiana knocked off Miami by double-digits.
Looking at the box score, both teams shot the same percentage — 51 percent. But, dive deeper into the box score, and it’s pretty easy to see why the Pacers were 11-points better than their counterparts.
