Pacers Must Respond with More Than Mere Words to Larry Bird's Soft Comments

The Indiana Pacers letdown Larry Bird and the must atone on the court in Game 6 of their second-round matchup with the Miami Heat. 

The Pacers were routed in the second half of Game 5 and ended up losing to the Heat, 115-83. 

Bird, the Pacers president, was understandably a little salty following the loss, but it was not just the score, but the way his team played. The performance was bad enough that it caused Bird to drop the following dirty little four-letter basketball word.

The Indianapolis Star's Mike Wells tweeted out Bird's comments.

"

Larry Bird: "I can't believe my team went soft. S-O-F-T. I'm disappointed. I never thought it would happen."

— Mike Wells (@MikeWellsNBA) May 23, 2012"

To their credit, the Pacers do not appear to be shying away from Bird's attack. At least Danny Granger isn't. The Associated Press' Tim Reynolds captured this quote from Danny Granger: 

"

I agree with his assessment. We did play soft. We got smacked around. We got beat up, we got bullied, and we really didn't respond well.

"

Of course, one of the problems was that Granger was not on the court. He tweaked his ankle with under four minutes left in the first half, and other than a brief appearance to start the second, was not able to make it on the court. 

When he suffered the injury, the Pacers trailed by just three, 43-40. Granger's status for Game 6 is up in the air. 

Whether Granger is on the court or not, the Pacers cannot allow the Heat to be more physical. 

This does not mean they have to run around the court with malicious intent. They still need to play smart, focused basketball. They just cannot allow the Heat to push them out of the block, beat them to loose balls, steal rebounds or have an easy path to the basket. 

Bird didn't just call his team soft because that was his reaction to the game. He wanted to motivate them for the next contest. Indiana can't allow this message to be in vain.