The Miami Heat was supposed to be battling with the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night during a heated Eastern Conference showdown, but at times they were battling with themselves. For most of the night, the Heat could not do anything right. In the end, the team pulled out the win, but as fouls and missed shots racked up, so did team frustration.
The night was highlighted by a heated exchange between LeBron James and Mario Chalmers. During the third quarter, Chalmers committed a turnover, missed a 3-point shot and then committed two fouls all within a two minute time span. During a team huddle, whatever Chalmers said got James heated to the point where teammates had to hold him back. TNT cameras later caught James apologizing to Chalmers in the fourth quarter while the reigning MVP later took to Twitter to apologize.
"I love Mario Chalmers like a blood brother. I was wrong and apologized to him! We good and will always be good. I ride with him any and every day," James wrote. Chalmers later tweet, "All good big bro. At the end of the day we brothas and nothin' gonna change that."
The heated exchange did not appear to hurt Miami's chances of winning. However, head coach Erik Spoelstra did pull Chalmers for a portion of the third quarter after he had just four points and give assists in 19 minutes.
Miami players were not the only ones that were getting frustrated. Pacers' Paul George had some choice words for the referees. He was complaining about not getting a foul call that could have potentially tied up the game. George was under the impression that James made contact with him, causing him to brick a three.
Tension was high the entire night. Miami was down by 15 at one point before going on a 10-point rally behind Chris Bosh's t3-point shot. James forced a turnover as Ray Allen knocked in another 3-point shot. Miami never trailed again.
"I was encouraged by our ability to stay focused and show some resolve in the second half," Spoelstra said, via ESPN.com. "It wasn't necessarily pretty, but you have to make enough plays ... and a lot of times against this opponent it has to be like that, where it's not smooth and you have to make enough plays to just give yourself a chance in the end."
Pacers head coack Frank Vogel believes this will continue to be a heated matchup as both teams are expected to be in play for the Eastern Conference title. Wednesday's game was just the start of things.