Pacers Loom On The Horizon For Heat
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The Indiana Pacers finished off the Orlando Magic in the opening round of the NBA Playoffs Tuesday night. What's their reward? Most likely the Miami Heat in the second round of the playoffs.
Indiana blew out the Magic by 20 points on Tuesday to finish off the Magic. The series win was the first for the Pacers since Reggie Miller was still playing in 2005. But now they will go from favorites to underdogs against the Heat.
During the regular season, the Heat were 3-1 against the Pacers including a 118-83 win on January 4 at the AAA, 105-90 on Valentine's Day in Indiana, a 93-91 victory at the AAA on March 10 and a loss in Indiana on 105-90.
The Pacers have posted major improvements thanks to the acquisitions of power forward David West from the New Orleans Hornets and George Hill, formerly of the San Antonio Spurs. The pacers starters are Hill, Paul George, Danny Granger, West, and Roy Hibbert.
Then they bring Tyler Hansbrough, Leonardo Barbosa and Darrin Collison off the bench.
If the Bulls are eliminated in the other half of the Eastern Conference playoff bracket, Indiana and Boston are the Heat's two biggest challenges on the path to the NBA Finals. If the Bulls go down, Miami would have home court advantage in the Eastern Conference.
But, the Heat have to take care of the Knicks first, which they will try to do in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference playoffs opening round.
