The Matchup We Have All Been Waiting For, Right?

Sunday May 18th. 3 o'clock. Fans of defense and smashmouth basketball undoubtedly have this date and time penciled in their calendars. The top two teams in the East are set to duke it out in a matchup with no shortage of compelling story lines.

James versus George

The champs versus the underdogs.

The flashy, big market Heat versus the blue collar, small market Pacers.

America's Riviera versus America's heartland.

The majority of NBA coverage related to the East revolved around these two teams. Many experts predicted that this would finally be the Pacers' year. Others predicted that nothing could stand in the way of Lebron and the Heat. Aside from the mediocrity of the other teams in the East, much of this buildup came from last year's Conference Finals. The upstart Pacers gave the Heat all they could handle in that 7 game classic. They out-hustled the Heat. They out-rebounded the Heat. Roy Hibbert looked like a boy amongst men for much of the series. More significant than almost beating the champs in a competitive series was the fact that the Pacers challenged Miami's very identity.

Can a team with size beat the league's poster child for "small ball?"

The Pacers came awfully close last year. Their starting 5 outplayed their Heat counterparts significantly in that series. Their size and athleticism clearly posed problems for Miami. Indiana's bench; not so much. Miami, not normally known for their depth thoroughly dominated the Pacers' second unit. Given the fact that the Pacers' bench was ranked second to last in the league, this shouldn't have come as a surprise. Being that the ultimate goal is not to almost win a championship, Larry Bird addressed this glaring deficiency by bringing in CJ Watson, Chris Copeland, and Luis Scola in the offseason. Before the trade deadline, Bird essentially traded a struggling Danny Granger for a (statistically) more efficient Evan Turner.

The Pacers now had a much improved bench. It's a wrap, right?

For about 45 games, that appeared to be the case. Then the Pacers began to spectacularly fall apart. Their once adequate offense regressed to god awful. Their potent defense regressed to just above average. A team once known for sharing the ball and mental toughness suddenly looked selfish and fragile. Losses piled up and speculation abounded. Perhaps losing Granger meddled with chemistry. Perhaps the team began to believe it's own press. Whatever the reason, Indiana has struggled to regain their dominant form for any considerable period of time since the All-Star break.

Miami also had its share of struggles this season. After the All-Star break, they had a comparable losing streak and massive decline in their normally superb defense. Their role players seemed unsure and Dwayne Wade had trouble both staying healthy and fitting in when he did play. As with the Pacers, speculation abounded as to why the champs were struggling. Had the 3 consecutive trips to the Finals taken a toll on the team? Were they "coasting?" Was the Heat's lack of depth and size finally catching up to them? Was Wade too injury prone to contribute for one more championship run?

As cliched as it sounds, the Playoffs are a whole new season and winning is the ultimate cure-all. Regular season drama and losing streaks fall by the wayside as long as a team wins. For the Miami Heat, this appeared to be the case. In the first round, the Heat faced the Bobcats, a defensive-minded team with a dominant center. Miami swept them. Their defense looked sound. Lebron looked like the best player in the world and Dwayne Wade looked healthy. In the second round, the Heat handily beat the Nets, the only regular season team to sweep them in the Big Three era.

The Playoffs have been more of the same for Indiana. The top-seeded Pacers came incredibly close to being upset in the 1st Round by an Atlanta Hawks team with a losing record. Indiana's defense was non-existent in that series and Roy Hibbert was largely ineffective guarding a center who can hit outside shots like, say Chris Bosh. In the second round, the Pacers often looked flat and unfocused as they barely held off the 5th seeded Washington Wizards.

The good news is that this isn't NASCAR. The outcome of previous rounds have no bearing on deciding a champion in the NBA. Each series is its own entity and the Pacers have another shot at the champs. This time they have home court advantage and an improved bench. On paper, these are the two most complete teams in the East. The teams also hate each other in a way that is both rare and refreshing in today's bromance-filled NBA. If there is any justice in the sports world, the Pacers will regain their mojo and give us fans one more classic series.

Keeping Pace in the East

The Pacers won their first three games.  While victories over the Pistons, Raptors, and Cavaliers aren't exactly worthy of front page news, the manner in which they won these games has me taking notice.  In their first game versus the Pistons, the Pacers were completely dominant in the paint.  Roy Hibbert and Tyler Hansborough combined for 27 rebounds and 31 points.  The team had 9 blocked shots and 9 steals.  Against the Cavaliers, Hibbert had another big night (13 boards, 19 points, 3 blocked shots) and wanted the ball on every possession.  The Pacers' newest acquisition David West laid out Anderson Varejao rather than giving him an easy layup.  The two later got into a scuffle and had to be separated.  West ended up hitting a last second shot to send the game into overtime, where the Pacers cruised to a win.  While I don't endorse flagrant fouls or pushing and shoving after the whistle blows, it's nice to see that these Indiana Pacers already have a Playoff-like intensity about them.  This year you can see a noticeable increase in swagger when this team comes out of the tunnel.  They don't back down to anybody, as we saw in last year's  first round matchup with No. 1 seeded Chicago.  Indiana put up more of a fight than anybody expected and that series was much closer than the 4-1 record would suggest.

Could there finally be hope for this franchise floating around the greater Indianapolis area?  If there are any NBA fans that deserve hope, it has to be these Pacers faithful.  Aside from the emergence of Danny Granger, there hasn't been much to get excited about.  Throughout the lockout, the Indiana Pacers were often used as an example of a helpless small market team that will never be able to compete with the Miamis, Bostons, and New Yorks of the world.  After years of salary cap hell and mediocrity following the Rumble at the Palace, it seems like a competitive squad is beginning to take shape.  Give David Morway and Larry Bird some much deserved credit for this development.

This transition began last year when the Pacers acquired Darren Collison from the Hornets.  Collison added some much needed stability at the point guard position.  So far the former backup to Chris Paul has fit in nicely and played well for them.  The Draft day trade that sent Spurs sharpshooter George Hill to Indiana for Kawhi Leonard helps the Pacers in numerous ways.  Hill stretches the floor, is a solid defender and should give the team some valuable minutes when Collison is on the bench.  Landing Fresno State's Paul George in the first round of last year's draft has already paid dividends.  After going 5-5 from behind the arc versus New Jersey last night, we now know that the freakishly athletic swingman has an improved 3-point shot.  While Luis Amundson isn't going to compete with Roy Hibbert for the starting center position, the team needed another big man and got one for a reasonable price.  Speaking of reasonable, how about signing a 2 time All-Star like David West for 2 years/$20 million?  Boston was very interested but in the end, the smaller market team under the salary cap could afford to pay him more.  That, my friends, is capitalism at work.  While we are on the subject of capitalism, this is a contract year for talented big man Roy Hibbert.  So far he looks like a big man playing for that big contract every night.  Perhaps the NBA system isn't as broken as one majority owner of a professional basketball team from Ohio might suggest.

It remains to be seen what first-time head coach Frank Vogel can accomplish with this team.  So far, you have to like what he is doing.  Former head coach Jim O'Brien was not developing the young nucleus of this team.  He was stubborn with his rotations and his play calling and consequently lost the respect of the locker room.  After making Vogel the interim head coach, the team responded by playing hard and making the Playoffs for the first time in 5 years.  Vogel has no problem giving the young guys minutes and letting them learn from their mistakes.  For this team to move forward, guys like Roy Hibbert, Tyler Hansborough, Paul George, and Lance Stephenson have to develop sooner rather than later.  By all accounts, Vogel gets it and this team seems to play well together.

Let's not kid ourselves.  Outside of a couple of teams, the Eastern Conference is still weak.  Squads with sub .500 records are going to make the Playoffs this year.  The Pacers could conceivably make the post season for the second straight year while still getting a pretty good draft pick in what some are calling the best draft class since 2003.  Let that marinate for a moment.  They could gain valuable experience this year AND gain a franchise changing talent next year.  With one lucky bounce of the lottery ball and a few more shrewd moves from this underrated front office, we could be seeing those blue and gold unis in a championship game sooner than later.