The Miami Heat and the Indiana Pacers are facing off on Wednesday night in the top NBA game on the schedule and the two teams are coming in as the best in the eastern conference and the matchup comes after the Pacers won over LeBron James and company this month and the game will be on ESPN at 7:00 pm from AmericanAirlines Arena and streaming on WatchESPN.
LeBron James comes into the game questionable after injuring his ankle and while he will likely play, he did not practice this week before the game and has been working on getting back to full strength for the important matchup with the Pacers. Indiana is currently the top seed in the standings by two games over Miami and while it is early in the season, the Heat would like to get on top, as they know how important home court advantage can be in the playoffs and with the Pacers looking like the only legitimate contender in the east, getting that home court is a priority for both sides. Last season Indiana had Miami against the ropes and the series went seven games and one could argue that the Pacers may have won had it been at home in the final game and that is what makes a matchup like this so important for both teams.
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Miami came into the season knowing that Indiana would be the top contender to knock them off in the east, but the team did not realize that they could be the only contender, as the Knicks and Nets have been a hot mess, while the Atlanta Hawks are just one game over .500 in the third seed, while Miami and Indiana are at the top of the conference by a wide margin.
The west is much deeper and more talented and the top part of the conference has four or five legitimate championship contenders along with a number of other talented teams and now Miami and Indiana must duke it out in the east. The Chicago Bulls were looking like a title contender coming into the season, but now that Derrick Rose is out, that could all be for nothing and the Knicks, who were expecting to compete for the east after winning 50 games last season, they are a complete mess and could possibly miss the playoffs.
Indiana comes into the game after their fourth loss of the season to the Detroit Pistons and they will next play against Dwight Howard and the Rockets and the Pacers come in with the best ranked defense, as they are first in the NBA with 90 points allowed per game. Miami is ranked in the top 10 in scoring and if LeBron James can go tonight, it will make the game that much more interesting. James led the team with 30 points, nine boards and nine assists in the win over Utah and the team plays the Kings next before the Lakers on Christmas.