Pacers vs. Heat Game 2: Roy Hibbert Will Change Series and Expose Miami's Depth

The Indiana Pacers caught a huge break when it was announced that Miami Heat All-Star forward Chris Bosh would be out indefinitely with an abdominal strain.

One Pacers player in particular, center Roy Hibbert, should be licking his chops as Game 2 approaches Tuesday night. Hibbert can severely expose the lack of frontcourt depth the Heat truly have.

Hibbert may have been the X-Factor coming into the series, but now he has the opportunity to become a series changer.

Although you wouldn't know it from Game 1, even with Bosh in the lineup, the Pacers should have a decided advantage on the glass. Led by Hibbert's 8.8 rebounds per game, Indiana was a very good rebounding team during the regular season, pulling down an average of 43.9 boards per night, good for fourth in the NBA.

Miami on the other hand, isn't a great team when it comes to crashing the glass, only ranking 21st in the league this season.

Despite the Game 1 loss for Indiana, this series has suddenly become a toss-up and Hibbert can play a major role in shifting it to Indiana's favor.

For one, the Heat become a much smaller team without Bosh in the lineup and while he may be viewed as a second-fiddle star compared to LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, Miami has gone only 4-5 on the season without Bosh in the lineup.

Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star provided some interesting stats that give the Pacers a great deal of hope for the rest of the series:

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With him, the Heat winning percentage was .746; without him, .444

With him, the Heat averaged 99.9 points per game; without him, 87.1

With him, opponents averaged 83.3 points per game; without him, 87.2.

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The Heat will have the look of a small team without their best low-post scorer, but will be faster in the process. LeBron will likely play at the 4 with Shane Battier playing the 3 to guard Danny Granger. The likes of Joel Anthony and journeyman Ronny Turiaf will end up manning the middle.

To win, the Pacers need to play big and take advantage of their size, which means running the offense through Hibbert and playing the game inside-out.

On the defensive end of the floor, Hibbert needs to be a major factor and cause Miami problems, similar to what Tyson Chandler did last year for the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals.

Hibbert's also a restricted free agent after the season and a big series the rest of the way could ultimately lead to him cashing in big during the offseason.

To say the Heat have struggle against bigger teams would be an understatement. The Pacers have the size and the toughness to physically beat up a smaller Miami team.

It all starts with Hibbert though, as he's the one guy that can become a legitimate series-changer.