The Informer’s 50 NBA Blogs in 50 Nights Day 35: The Eastern Conference Champion Miami Heat

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This just in: The 2014 Eastern Conference Finals are over.

Trust The Informer, this statement is not an overreaction. It is the perfect reaction to have if you watched the Miami Heat’s dominating 99-87 Game 3 victory over the Indiana Pacers. I mean seriously, this matchup up is not even close to being a fair fight.

Right now Miami has Dwyane Wade playing like it is 2006 –averaging almost 25ppg while shooting roughly six thousand percent from the field. They have the best player on the planet – LeBron James – dominating both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball (on Saturday James put up 25 points, grabbed five rebounds, dished out seven assist and had four steals while shooting 9-14 from the field). And to top it all off, on any given night there is a chance that Ray Allen is going to morph into “Jesus Shuttlesworth” and start raining 3-pointers like he is playing against Denzel Washington again (last night “Jesus” went 4 for 4 from downtown with 13 points in the fourth quarter alone).

Like The Informer said, it just isn’t fair. Miami has too many ways to beat you.

Even when Indiana was completely in control of Game 3, all it took was Miami making one defensive change for the game and the series to completely flip. It happened midway through the second quarter, with Miami down by fifteen points, when Heat Coach Eric Spoelstra decided that instead of sitting back and watching his team continue to play with no energy, he was going to challenge his guys to pick up the Pacers with full court defense.

(The Informer note –Scott Brooks if you are reading this, what Spoelstra did is called making an adjustment. You may want to give it a try sometime).

The Informer remembers thinking how weird it was when LeBron and Norris Cole started “bodying” up on their guys 80ft away from the rim because NBA teams rarely put on a full court press. That thought quickly vanished though, as The Informer went from being perplexed to watching the Pacers completely buckle under the Heat’s defensive pressure.

Indiana actually turned the ball over on seven of their next eight possessions including six straight times down the court. It was a defensive clinic. When it was all said in done, Miami had cut the Pacers lead from 15 to four. With the lead cut to four at the half, The Informer knew it was only a matter of time until Miami finished off the comeback and then finished off the Pacers.

Now The Informer knows he always says don’t overreact too one win, or one loss. The reason The Informer always says this is because you have to be patient with a seven game series since there are so many different swings that a person who overreacts to every single one will eventually come out looking foolish (like all of the people from the first round who said there was no way Indiana could make the Conference Finals).

But like The Informer said before, saying this series is over is not an overreaction to one win; it is the proper reaction to Miami’s dominance. The Indiana Pacers showed us in Game 3 that they do not have the firepower necessary to stay with the Heat once that imaginary switch is turned on and Miami decides to raise their game up to “Championship Level”. Unfortunately for Indiana, they are just a good team who doesn’t have the same switch flipping ability to match Miami.

And honestly, at this point, anyone who says anything other than Miami is going dominate the rest of this series is just trying to add drama/intrigue that is simply not there.

Listen, The Informer predicted before the series began that the Heat would win in six games, so saying Miami is going to win the series after they went up 2-1 is not that big of a revelation. With that said, after watching last night The Informer would not be surprised to see Indiana fold up tent completely and for Miami to finish this series off in five.

If you are a Pacers fan don’t feel too bad. There is no shame in saying you were outclassed by the two time defending champions. Truth be told, there are only two teams (San Antonio and a healthy OKC) in the NBA good enough to battle the Heat when LeBron, Wade, Allen and the rest of the crew are playing like they did on Day 35 of the 2014 NBA Playoffs.

That is why today, since we found out the Pacers don’t have the talent to take down South Beach, The Informer is going to go ahead and mark Miami down as the 2014 Eastern Conference Champions, making them the first team in 27 years to win their conference four consecutive seasons.

At this point it is only a matter of when history is going to be made –not if.

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(P.S. – I rediscovered this video on the Youtube while trying to find a “GIF” of LeBron’s weird third quarter celebration last night. For some reason The Informer thought it might brighten up your day. Please enjoy.)