Heat vs. Pacers: Haslem and Pittman's Fouls Will Fire Up the Pacers in Game 6

The Miami Heat’s Udonis Haslem and Dexter Pittman’s flagrant fouls in Game 5 did not rattle the Indiana Pacer’s confidence. Instead, it lit a fire under them going into Game 6 at Indiana.

It shouldn’t have been this way. Miami had their opponent's mindset right where they wanted it: discouraged and dead in the water. The Heat outperformed the Pacers in all phases of the actual basketball being played on the court. A 115-83 victory with a team-record 61 percent shooting night would suffice as a series-changing physical beat down on its own.

They rendered Roy Hibbert and David West into nonexistent statues with their defense. They executed swiftly and gracefully in transition. LeBron James and Dwayne Wade dazzled; this is what Miami’s Welcome Party was all about. 

Until Dexter Pittman and Udonis Haslem marred the celebration. As a result, those two gave Indiana the sense of urgency they were missing.

A physical beating to a young team at times would be the nail in the coffin to a playoff series. The flagrant fouls, however—in addition to Pacer’s president Larry Bird’s comments calling them S-O-F-T—have given Indiana its bark back.

They’ll be looking for revenge and bringing their own brand of physical ball in a do-or-die game.

Expect Game 6 to be full-on elbows, shoves and altercations. Miami will try to play coy and unresponsive, while the Pacers will be the team on the counterattack.This series just went from chippy to hostile.

If that wasn’t enough, the Pacers will be backed by their home crowd. Just like in any fight, the participant has an extended comfort level at home. They’ll be energized and play with passion similar to their Game 3 performance. I expect Danny Granger and David West to be in good shape. If anything, these hard fouls will motivate even them to be ready for a dogfight. 

Both fouls were retaliations for relatively unsubstantial actions in the big picture of the second-round series. The NBA is not baseball, where teams beam each other's stars while the country turns a blind eye. Nor is it the NHL, where the league’s administration condones cheap shots and suspends based on the severity of the injury. Basketball does not have a long-standing tradition with acceptable physical acts.

Pittman was simply a pawn who was used to take out Lance Stephenson, the same Stephenson who went through concussion and collar-on medical tests following the game.

Haslem, however, is a different story altogether. His potential absence will rid Miami of a rebounding presence and a jump shooter that spreads the floor. His team will have to rely on Lebron and DWade to shoulder the vast majority of the scoring load to clinch the series.

Miami’s bigs "sticking up for their guys" has turned Indiana’s alertness switch from off to DEFCON 1. Pacer’s head coach Frank Vogel will have the game tape from Tuesday embedded in his team’s brains by tip-off.

In a fight, when one guy beats his opponent down, it’s over. When a fighter crosses the line, though, his opponent's boys will be waiting for him in the parking lot.

The Pacers won’t be hitting the parking lot. Instead, they’ll throw down with Miami in their backyard.

Thanks to a couple of dumb plays, the Pacers now have a second life. It shouldn't have been this way.