The Pacers put the Heat in a bodybag last night, and on Sunday will get a chance to zip them up. While the series is far from over, the Pacers punched the Heat in the throat last night and left them staggering. Now up 2-1, we’re still hearing plenty of prefabricated excuses for Miami (no Bosh, Wade’s hurt, the supporting cast is inconsistent). But no matter, “Gold Swagger” was in full effect last night as the Pacers continued putting their stamp on this series.

Final Score: Pacers 94, Heat 75

Player of the Game: Roy Hibbert (19 points, 18 rebounds, 5 blocks, 9-16 FG, 1-2 FT)

Palm Beach Post

Why the Pacers Won: From the beginning of the third quarter on Indiana decided it wasn’t backing down. They caught fire in the third and never relented. Tied up at halftime, the Pacers went on an 18-3 second half run, eventually outscoring the Heat 51-32 in the second half, and allowing only 12 third quarter points! The Pacers were near perfect in every aspect of the game over the final 24 minutes. They played stellar defense, remaining physical while not making it easy on the referees to call touch fouls. They knocked down jumpers, threes included at a much higher efficiency rating than they have all series. More importantly they limited the Heat, again, from the outside. Miami has now hit just 5 three pointers in the series, and while four of them came in last night’s game, they actually attempted 20 (two more than Indiana). Maybe most importantly, Roy Hibbert and David West played inspired basketball, establishing their dominance down low. Hibbert was near-flawless with his execution. His jump hook was working. His drop-step was working. His touch was soft. And on defense the big fella was absolutely disruptive.

What I Liked the Most: Literally everything from the third quarter on. I can’t stop gushing about how well Indiana put everything together, stayed intense, dictated tempo, fed off the crowd and got so far into Miami’s head that James threw another mean-spirited elbow (that went uncalled) and Wade had one of his worst career playoff games, highlighted by him seemingly threatening to punch his coach. Believe what you want to when it comes to the excuses the mainstream media will come up with for the Heat, the truth is all of Miami’s lack of cohesiveness and unpreparedness stems from Indiana getting them flustered and locking them down in every phase of the game in the second half. Also the unsung hero of this game was Paul George, whose stat line (9 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 3-6 FG) betrays his positive affect on the game. George was making some unusually tough passes for a non-point guard, and was more consistently focused on defense than he has been all series (Wade’s offensive stink bomb didn’t hurt George’s assignment, but hey). George’s +23 was a game high (tied with two other Pacers starters) on +/- for a second straight game.

What I Hated the Most: If I had to pick something to complain about it would be the first half defense/rebounding. The Pacers were letting too many Miami players into the lane for uncontested floaters (especially Mario Chalmers…what?). This was highly annoying, but even worse was allowing Ronny Turiaf to get free for offensive rebounds/putbacks. Cro Magnon man’s incredibly overdramatic arm swinging routine after a first quarter and-one could have been completely avoided had the Pacers just put a body on someone. It took them too long to get that into their heads, but once they did, it was curtains in the second half, so I’m not complaining.

Final Thoughts: The Miami body language says this thing is over. From LeBron’s elbow to Wade’s blow up (that apparently he doesn’t even remember) it seems like the Pacers have already put this team in a box, and are tossing in the last few shovel-fuls of dirt. But we all know that this Heat team is too good, too confident to just wilt, even if it looks like that’s what they’re doing. The Pacers must remain focused. A game four win at Bankers Life really will be a death knell for the Heat; they won’t have the heart to dig themselves out of a 1-3 hole. But going back to Miami tied 2-2? That’s something the Pacers need to avoid at all costs.

In an ugly game 2, highlighted by tenacious defense and inefficient offense by both teams, the Pacers squeezed out a win, and homecourt advantage going forward. With the series tied 1-1 heading back to Indianapolis, the pressure is suddenly on the Miami Heat to get a quick win, and reestablish their home court advantage, or this thing could get out of control fast. Meanwhile, with the way the Pacers are playing on offense, they have their work cut out for them Thursday.

Final Score: Pacers 78, Heat 75

Boston Globe

Player of the Game: David West (16 points, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks, 5-13 FG, 6-8 FT)

Why the Pacers Won: Indiana played its usual brand of rugged, tough-as-nails defense and made a few big plays late, including a dominant third quarter (which is becoming somewhat of a theme). They were dominant on the glass, as they should have been, outrebounding Miami by 10. Frank Vogel also leaned on his starters more in the second half than in the first, ratcheting his rotation down to 7 from its usual 9. While this put the most pressure on David West, who had a terrible first half, he responded with a big second half. Finally, and maybe most importantly, the Pacers sneaked away with the win because at the end of the game, LeBron James missed 3 -4 free throws and didn’t take a shot in the final 3.5 minutes. Wade also missed a wide open lefty layup that drew no contact, and most importantly the refs (who called a pretty fair game, besides some obvious misses) didn’t bail him out.

What I Liked the Most: Danny Granger and Paul George’s collective defensive efforts on James and Wade. Wade absolutely punked George with a  first-half spin move that left the second year man holding his own jock strap. But George didn’t hang his head. Instead, he responded with a big third quarter, using his length and explosiveness to create havoc on defense and get some transition buckets. George had a blue-collar stat line (10 points, 11 rebounds, 3 steals) but was a game-high +20 on the +/-. Conversely, Granger struggled mightily on offense, again, but didn’t get discouraged. He attacked the basket with ease in the third quarter and stayed physical with James on defense, even mixing it up with him under the basket with some extracurricular barking that lead to a double-technical. The Pacers’ frustrating brand of physicality and relentlessness kept the Heat on edge throughout the second half, and it was the collective attitude of Granger and George leading the way, even if the two still struggled to create offense for themselves.

What I Hated the Most: Hibbert’s failure to capitalize on his obvious size and talent advantages. Big Roy was the only Pacer who failed to crack double-digit scoring, going for just one second half point. He was virtually invisible in the most crucial stretch of the game; you literally forgot he was there. It’s often two steps forward for Hibbert and three steps back, and this game was no exception for the big man. As we saw all series vs. Orlando, squat, strong opposing bigs (like Ronny Turiaf) can easily push Hibbert off of the block on offense, where he fails to consistently establish position. If he gets the ball in good position to score, actually scoring is only half the battle, and Hibbert just simply needs to get a stronger lower body going forward. On defense Hibbert routinely found himself 20 feet away from the rim, lured to the top of the key by his screen-setting man. Hibbert needs to adjust and react better, and Frank Vogel ought to consider instructing him to simply give his man space on the high screen. It’s not like Turiaf or Joel Anthony are a threat to knock down jump shots.

Final Thoughts: Frank Vogel tried some interesting zone and pseudo-zone looks last night, but in crunch time stuck with the traditional man-to-man philosophy he’s used all year, and it worked for the most part. Paul George was impressive with his defense of James; he shadowed Wade for most of game 1, but got a shot at the MVP in game 2, and did an admirable job on him. It’s unfortunate that the Pacers were so cold early on, especially after jumping out to a 9-point lead, but luckily they got that out of their systems early, and were able to shake off the shooting slump en route to another blistering third quarter. This win was not ideal, considering some big-time chokes from James and Wade were partially responsible for the Heat’s failure to close things out, but a win’s a win, and Indiana will look to up the intensity Thursday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.