The Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers are playing Game 7 in the Eastern conference finals on Monday night in South Florida and all the while the San Antonio Spurs have been waiting to see who they will play on Thursday in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
The Spurs are hoping for the Pacers after defeating the Grizzlies in four games, as if Indiana wins, San Antonio will get home court advantage as the number two seed in the west since the Pacers are fifth. Miami would get the home court advantage against the Spurs with a win against the Pacers in Game 7 and LeBron James would love another chance to play the Spurs in the finals after losing to the team in 2007 in a four game sweep. James has been on fire during the playoffs and while he has played well in Game 7's, he needs some great help from his fellow stars in Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade and without that Miami will have a tough time winning.
The Pacers are a deep team and they showed that in the Game 6 win on Saturday after dominating in the third quarter, which is exactly what Miami did in the previous game. The Heat outscored the Pacers 30-13 in that quarter and James scored or assisted on 25 of those points, but Saturday saw the exact opposite, as David West, Paul George and Roy Hibbert dominated. The Pacers have depth with Lance Stephenson and George Hill and if the Heat can't get better production from Mike Miller and Norris Cole, they will have a tough time winning the game.
James finished with 29 points and six assists in the Game 6 loss and after scoring at least 24 points over the past three games, he will need to do the same again to advance on Monday. James had 30 points and eight rebounds in the dominating Game 5 win and after the way the Heat played in Game 6 they will need to do much better to get the victory on Monday night. James is the MVP, but the Pacers bench has proven to be more than the Heat can handle and the production of both benches could be the difference in the game.
Tim Duncan and Tony Parker have been playing fantastic through the playoffs and Duncan looks like a man possessed by his younger self, while Parker has been nearly unstoppable. In the Game 4 victory that put the team through to the finals for the first time since 2007, Parker had 37 points while Duncan added eight rebounds to lead the Spurs. Parker scored 26 points in the previous win and his best performance may have been in the second game when he had 15 points and 18 assists. The team is hoping for the Pacers so they can get home court, but the team will not be rattled if they have to play Miami, as they have been dominant while sweeping two series during the playoffs.