Battle was to be and battle was, but for the time being the king remained on the throne. The battle was the very delicate game 5 between Miami and Indiana and the king is obviously the number 6, LeBron James, who in the decisive moment showed once again that he is the strongest player in the league and probably one of the best ever. As expected, the Heat did not betray the expectations and went 3-2 in the series, respecting the home factor, but the game, which ended 90-79, was anything but easy for King James and his companions, with the Pacers who confirmed their commitment and once again scared the reigning champions. In fact, despite the final result, Indiana does not come out of this game 5 in any way downsized and, even if the series now seems to be headed to one side, the story could still be long and talking about Miami in the final against San Antonio is at least risky. The Pacers actually lost only one of the 4 quarters of the match, the third, the one that was their fatal one, after they had started better than the hosts and had managed to return to the locker room ahead by 4 (and the advantage could have been be more consistent). For coach Vogel, the usual great performances by Hibbert, in the whole series simply devastating under the basket, and by the star Paul George, 27 points and 5 out of 8 from three, all things that bode well for their fans in view of the next game 6 in Indianapolis , where however the problem, once again, will be to stop, as far as possible, the one who won last night's challenge alone, LeBron James.
We were talking about the fatal third quarter for the Pacers, i.e. the period in which the MVP of the regular season decided to take the team on his shoulders and, from a situation of -6, scored 16 points (of his 30 total), with Miami which placed a partial of 30 to 10 (out of the 30, in addition to its 16, another 9 points came from James' assists, with Haslem benefiting more than anyone else). The Chosen One scored from any position, also finding a couple of triples from a sidereal distance, a crazy show in front of which the opponents, also blocked by a great defensive work from Miami, had to bow down. Now we have an answer in Indianapolis, on Saturday night they will take the field for the perhaps decisive game 6, Indiana finds itself with its back to the wall, but the Heat would make a very serious mistake not to try in every way to close the discussion right in the next game, thinking of a possible seventh to play again at home, because at that point the Pacers would have nothing more to lose and it would be Spoelstra's players who would be in the worst situation. So let's get ready for 48 or more minutes of struggle and tension, LeBron will want to write another page of his story, but George, Hibbert, Hill, West and above all Stephenson showed again the other night that they have the right face, that bad, the face of those who are not there by chance, and want to write their own history.
