Jimmy Butler said, “The drama is over.” The way this series is going, he might be right. Without Nunn in Game 1 or 2 fans were skeptical to see how these matchups would endup
The Pacers cannot contain Miami through depth or talent in game one pulling through in the 4th and outscoring the Pacers by 11 to pull away with the 113-101 win. “I thought tonight we just didn’t play a 48-minute game,” Pacers coach Nate McMillan said, and don’t think I forgot about Jimmy Buckets coming in clutch with two late threes in the forth and a forced jump ball. Miami can switch up the gameplan if someone isn’t shooting like usual or is getting risky with fouls. The Heat depth is so big they can flip the switch whenever they possibly need to and that’s what won the game one.
Robinson in game 2 could not be stopped and I don’t think he ever will be hitting his first 6 shots all being threes. Robinson began the game with three quick threes of the bat to get going and once he got hot there was no stopping him. Robinson used the defense on him against the Pacers giving quick fakes and rotating because he knows who he is. The Heat dominated the whole game with less than 5 lead changes and ended up winning 109-100.
In-game one Miami was in an extremely competitive game for the first 36 minutes. As McMillan said he didn’t think his guys played a 48-minute game and he was right. All those injuries are killing the Pacers now that they are playing a team with so much depth. The Heats bench helped them pull away because their bench is so talented. Butler and Dragic were the main scorers for Miami with Jimmy Butler scoring 28, and Goran Dragic scoring 24 to help win the series opener.
The shape of how game two was being formed started for getgo. Robinson being the biggest part of that hitting his first 6 shots all being threes. Scoring 3 of them in the minute to set the pace for Miami. Duncan ended up leading Miami in scoring for the game and made a franchise record for threes in a the postseason with only missing one! Miami pulls away in the 3rd quarter where Goran Dragic went on a 8-0 scoring run by attacking the glass which he ended up with 20 points for the game. Of course, Jimmy Butler wouldn’t disappoint with 18 points. But the true unsung hero of this game was Bam Adebayo, even though he scoring a mere 7 points and 5 rebounds he had the highest +/- of 19 out of everyone on the court. This game was a rout from the start and Miami won this matchup 109-100.
We will see if the Pacers can bounce back or if the Miami Heat will sweep the series in 4 games.