The second round of the NBA playoffs gets started on Sunday, May 13th, when the Miami Heat take on the Indiana Pacers. Check out our Heat vs. Pacers series preview and see which one of these teams is going to take one more step towards beating the NBA Finals odds in 2012!

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Indiana Pacers vs. Miami Heat NBA Playoff Schedule
Game 1: Indiana @ Miami (Sunday 5/13, 3:30 PM, ABC)
Game 2: Indiana @ Miami (Tuesday 5/15, 7:00 PM, TNT)
Game 3: Miami @ Indiana (TBD)
Game 4: Miami @ Indiana (TBD)
Game 5: Indiana @ Miami (TBD, If Necessary)
Game 6: Miami @ Indiana (TBD, If Necessary)
Game 7: Indiana @ Miami (TBD, If Necessary)

Key #1: The Pacers have to control the perimeter
This is what the Pacers really did oh so well against the Orlando Magic in the first round of the playoffs. However, Indiana also knew that Orlando’s only shot of winning that series was by knocking down shots from the outside. If that was shut down, the Magic may as well have just disappeared. In this series though, there are a heck of a lot more things to worry about. The Pacers are going to have to make sure that they don’t abandon the outside shooters, because as we saw with against New York Knicks, Mario Chalmers, Shane Battier, and Mike Miller all have the ability to hit the shots from the outside when given the chance. Those three have to be silenced by the Pacers, or they have absolutely zero chance of winning this series.

Indiana Pacers vs. Miami Heat Series Odds at
Wager Web Sportsbook
Indiana Pacers +600
Miami Heat -900
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Key #2: The Heat have to get contributions from their big men
And that means you, Chris Bosh. Of course, it won’t just be Bosh that is expected to post up in the lane, as we frequently think that we are going to see LeBron James matched up with David West. The Pacers were the bigger team against the Magic, and that is going to their one big time advantage in this series as well. The Heat might be more of the athletic team, but in terms of height and weight, the likes of West, Danny Granger, and Roy Hibbert are going to rule the day. Hibbert has been known to get into some foul trouble, and if Bosh or the likes of D-Wade and LeBron can get into the paint and cause the big man out of Georgetown to take some bad fouls, there is no doubt in our minds that the Heat have the huge advantage at that point with the paint opened up. Hibbert averaged over 10 boards and nearly four blocks per game against the Magic and is a real force to be reckoned with defensively.

Key #3: The Heat can’t have their eyes on the NBA Finals already
Get used to hearing this for as long as the Heat are playing in the playoffs. Assuming that it stays healthy, when Miami wants to come out and play, it is going to win games in this series by double digits. There’s just no two ways around that. That being said, you do have to go out and win four games out of seven against Indiana before worrying about the Eastern Conference Finals and the NBA Finals, and this is a dangerous opponent that it is going against. The Pacers did have wins this year against some of the best teams in the league, and that includes going into Chicago (with Derrick Rose) and beating the Chicago Bulls and taking one of the four games in this series (and nearly two of the four) against the Heat in the regular season.

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