The Miami Heat lost to the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of the eastern conference finals on Sunday afternoon and now Indiana as winner of the game takes a 1-0 series lead into the next matchup and that is a huge advantage at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, as Indy has struggled playing at home during the postseason in 2014 and the winner of this series plays against the winner of the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs series out west for the NBA title.
Miami comes into the series after defeating the Brooklyn Nets in five games and the Pacers come in after winning in six against the Washington Wizards and now the top two seeds are left in the east. The western conference has the top two seeds as well with the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs and those are the last two teams that Miami beat to win the championship in the last two seasons. The NBA is thrilled that all the top four seeds are left and they are even more thrilled because of who those teams are and now no matter who ends up in the finals, the matchup should be good for TV ratings with Miami and Oklahoma City likely getting the highest number.
James lost out to Durant in the MVP race this year, but the most important battle is for the championship and the Miami Heat are looking to win their third straight. James scored nearly 50 points in the fourth game against the Nets and he also had nearly 30 in the clinching game and now he will be the main focus for the team for this series along with the rest of the Big 3 in Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. The Heat come in as one of the best offensive teams in the playoffs, while the Pacers were one of the best defensive teams during the regular season before falling apart in the postseason, but now it appears they have it together.
The Miami Heat play against the Pacers next on Tuesday and that game will be on ESPN and WatchESPN on Tuesday and then the team has a break until the weekend. The Pacers will visit Miami for Game 3 on Saturday and the Game 2 matchup for the Thunder and Spurs comes on Wednesday and that will be on TNT. The Pacers had to play seven games against the Hawks before being pushed to six against the Washington Wizards and now the two teams will do battle in the eastern conference finals with the Miami Heat coming in having played just one extra game than the minimum they could play in the first two rounds.
Check here for the NBA playoffs standings and schedule for the Miami Heat and Pacers.