Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl
The Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers won’t play each other until Sunday afternoon, but Indiana coach Frank Vogel is wasting no time in taking shots at the Heat.
“They are the biggest flopping team in the NBA,” Vogel told reporters at Thursday’s practice in Indianapolis. “It’ll be very interesting (to see) how the referees officiate the series and how much flopping they reward.”
Led by Heat forwards Udonis Haslem and Shane Battier, the Heat drew the fourth-most charges in the NBA during the regular season, according to Hoopdata.com. Since Miami normally plays without a traditional center, protecting the rim with a variety of different methods is critical to its defense.
“Every drive to the basket, they have guys not making a play on the ball, but sliding in front of drivers,” Vogel said. “Oftentimes they’re falling down even before contact is even being made. It’ll be interesting to see how the series is officiated.”
The Heat defeated the New York Knicks on Wednesday night in the series-clinching game. GuardDwyane Wade and forward LeBron James are known to be the top foul-drawing players in the game. In the first-round series against New York, the Heat won the free-throw battle, generating 151 free-throw attempts compared to New York’s 109 attempts from the charity stripe.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra foresees a physical series against the Pacers.
“This next series, I’m sure, will feel like it’s played in a cage rather than on a basketball court,” Spoelstra said following Miami’s win over the Knicks. “It’ll be that physical.”
The Pacers enter Sunday’s game as one of the league’s hottest teams, beating the Orlando Magicin five games and winning 14 of their last 17 games dating to early April. Sunday’s matchup will be the first game between the two teams since March 23, when Indiana won by 15 points on its home floor. The Heat won the previous three matchups by a total of 52 points.
James disagreed with a reporter on Wednesday who suggested that the Pacers have had the upper hand against the Heat this season.
“I don’t think they’ve given us too many problems, personally,” James said. “We played some great ball against them. I think we gave them more problems than they gave us.”
WRITTEN BY Tom Haberstroh | ESPN.com & FULL STORY HERE
