In the first two games of the series that Pacers have looked about as bad as you can look. The offense is slow. The Pacers can’t win off the dribble and take a lot of contested jump shots. TJ Warren is getting double teamed on ball screens and the team is struggling to move the ball after them. When the offense struggles to score the defense can’t get set allowing a lot of penetration and kickouts to open 3s. The Pacers are the higher seed and down 2-0, but there’s a bright side.
As the higher seed when you go down 2-0 in the series it’s basically over. It’s tough enough to win on the road and when losing the homecourt advantage so quickly it makes it almost impossible to recover. But things are different this year. There’s no homecourt advantage. The Pacers don’t have to go to American Airlines Arena and don’t have to deal with the crazy fans in Miami.
To get back into this series the Pacers will have to close out on shooters faster. Stops will lead to early offense before the Heat can get their defense set. Indiana needs to make adjustments to TJ Warren double teams, and they’ll have to get their bench to outplay Miami’s. The Pacers have never won a series when trailing 2-0 but that could change this year. Why not? This year has been a little different anyway.