{"id":19260,"date":"2014-09-06T05:00:34","date_gmt":"2014-09-06T10:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mensbasketballhoopscoop.com\/?p=19260"},"modified":"2015-01-31T08:47:22","modified_gmt":"2015-01-31T14:47:22","slug":"game-1-2013-nba-eastern-conference-finals-by-john-zall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mensbasketballhoopscoop.com\/game-1-2013-nba-eastern-conference-finals-by-john-zall\/","title":{"rendered":"Game 1 2013 NBA Eastern Conference Finals by John Zall"},"content":{"rendered":"

Game 1 2013 NBA Eastern Conference Finals by John Zall<\/em><\/strong><\/h1>\n

The 2013 NBA Eastern Conference Finalswas a matchup of the defending champion Miami HEAT against the Indiana Pacers. With the Boston Celtics without Rajon Rondo and the Chicago Bulls without Derrick Rose the Indiana Pacers were Miami\u2019s chief rival in the Eastern Conference. The series ended up going the full 7 games where Miami walloped Indiana in the clincher. No game was more hotly contested; and hotly debated analyzed afterwards than Game 1.<\/p>\n

Game 1 was a back-and-forth affair that ended up going into overtime. With 2.2 seconds left on the clock Miami trailed by 1 but had possession of the ball on the sideline in their own end. Shane Battier, playing the 4 and being guarded Indiana’s\u2019 4 man, was inbounding the ball. Lebrun James, the reigning Triple Crown winner (Regular Season MVP, Finals MVP and Olympic Gold Medalist) was stationed on the strong side elbow. Chris Bosh, the 5 in this particular lineup was at the top of the key. Ray Allen was positioned at the lane line on the weak side and Norris Cole was stationed along the baseline on the strong side.<\/p>\n

Ray Allen initiated the action by cutting over the top of Lebrun and heading towards the strong side corner. His defender, the athletic Sam Young, was originally trailing him. As soon as Allen passed Chris Bosh, Bosh dove to the weak side block off of Allen\u2019s back forcing an emergency switch and putting big man Tyler Hansbrough now on Ray Allen. Once Chris Bosh got to the block Norris Cole cut through the paint to the weak side wing. George Hill did a job trailing Cole thus eliminating the switch of him and Young, which would pull another rim protected away from the rim.<\/p>\n

With the floor spaced, Battier entered the ball into James right above the left elbow. Paul George, the player guarding LeBron, got caught behind him and didn\u2019t square the ball back up. With limited time on the clock, James attacked the basket and got right to the rim where Indiana had no help positioned.<\/p>\n

After the game, Indiana Pacers Head Coach Frank Vogel took an ordinate amount of criticism for not having their defensive anchor Roy Hibbert on the floor for their final defensive possession. Hindsight is always 20\/20 and in an ideal world Roy Hibbert would be positioned right at the rim to meet LeBron and alter his layup. However, there were many deterrents to this solution.<\/p>\n