Friday, May 25th, 2012 at 9:00 am  |  63 responses

Dwyane Wade and LeBron James Too Much for the Indiana Pacers


by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

In the end, the greatness of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade prevailed.

Regardless of whatever advantage the Indiana Pacers may have thought they had going into last night — an injured Chris Bosh, a jacked-up home crowd, suspensions to two Heat players — the sheer talent and relentless dominance of Wade and James was simply too much to overcome, and Miami is now on its way back to the Eastern Conference Finals.

From the AP:

Wade scored 41 points, James added 28 and the Heat finished off the once-frisky Indiana Pacers 105-93 in Game 6 Thursday night, advancing to face either Boston or Philadelphia in the next round.

“They’re going to be tough to beat by anybody,” Indiana coach Frank Vogel said. [...] Over the course of three dazzling games, James scored 98 points, grabbed 34 rebounds and dished out 24 assists. Wade had 99 points, 22 rebounds and 11 assists. Chris Bosh, sidelined by an abdominal injury, wasn’t missed at all. “In the regular season, we’ve had some good games,” Wade said. “But I don’t know if we’ve ever had three in a row like that in the playoffs, the way we played off each other.” [...] One week earlier, Miami was down 2-1 after getting thumped 94-75 in Indianapolis. The fired-up Pacers had another game on their home court and a chance to build a commanding lead. Wade and James simply refused to let it happen. “We understand that when Chris went out, we had to step up,” D-Wade said. “The team looked to us to lead.”

This has to be especially satisfying for Dwyane Wade, who struggled early on in the series against Indy, and came under intense criticism despite knee trouble. Wade turned back into his dominant self and displayed the kind of confidence (on and off the court) that make this Miami Heat such a scary opponent.

Until Chris Bosh returns from his abdominal strain injury, LeBron James and Dwayne Wade will have to continue playing at this insanely high level. Anyone dare to doubt them now?

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  • http://www.slamonline.com aman from arkansas

    When Eric Gordan comes to Pacer next year the Heat won’t survive. Pacers haters here comes there superstar!!

  • Phil da Windmill

    The pacers played like some hoez Larry Bird knew these dudes was weak from the jump.I bet Danny Granger looks back at the tape of him getting all in lebron and d.wade’s face and smacks himself in the dome cause he looked 100% lame out there doing it.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Redd

    “there superstar”…oh ok. LOL

  • http://www.fiba.com Darksaber

    THAR SHE BLOWS, there superstar…
    Arrrr…

  • LA Huey

    Non-elite teams like the Pacers have no haters…Sorry, to burst your bubble

  • http://facebook.com/tronjohnson Chief

    Man that was a bad-a$$ beat down, the pacers had no answers and no plays for the playoffs, so many turnovers, their advantage in the post was null and void mang.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    I only say subpart because he was clearly more of a co pilot than dominant force. He didn’t impose his will the entire game just in spurts. I guess su par should have been “quiet”.

  • 602Shorty

    They Won’t Win the Chip IF they Have 2 play that way every game,,,,,,They Need help

  • http://facebook.com/tronjohnson Chief

    Man if Wade is killin em softly like he did in that game call in help for the other team.
    Call in the national guard cause it will be a massacre. If it’s San Antonio LeBron needs to Kill them…send them in a body bag and scream remember the ALAMO. If it’s OKC they need to show the young ones what it takes to play on that stage a.k.a. Wade doing what he did to the Pacers.

  • http://www.nba.com danfields

    the thunder and spurs are simply better as a team. no matter how good the big two or three of miami might be, their role players cant create their own shots or score constantly. the heat got deeps holes in their roster at the 5 and 1. great teams like okc or the spurs will exploit that because they are well ballanced. the pacers are a ballanced team too and we saw the heat strugling against them at times. in the finals they will find themselves against a ballanced team (thunder or spurs) at a much higher level than the pacers. this is also the reason why dallas beat them last season. plus: it doesnt only take great skills to succeed at the highest level, it also takes character and greatness. james absolutely lacks these “soft skills” and i dont know if im wrong but it looks to me as if wade changed for the worst in these aspects since james joined him at the heat roster. i hope they geet blown out in the finals or the conf finals and maybe then re-think their on and off court arrogance. maybe then we (the basketball world outside miami) wouldnt have such a tough time at trying to like them. they are being hated for a reason and unless they dont change we wont really be able to enjoy their on court greatness (skill wise).

  • http://www.slamonline.com Eboy

    ^That guy never gets his di$k wet! Lmao!

  • Dankenstein

    Says the guy talking trash on the internet. ^

  • http://Slam Delicious

    Off season for heat.
    1. Get rid of bosh, miller, curry
    2. Sign josh smith
    3. Try for Lamar Odom and Rashad Lewis
    4. Take a Risk on- Kamen, Thabeet or Oden

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