NBA Playoffs 2012: Short-Handed Heat Must Avoid Placing Game 7 Pressure on LBJ

After falling behind the Indiana Pacers two games to one, the Miami Heat have reeled off two convincing wins in a row that have the Pacers on the brink of elimination and the Heat one win away from advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals.

However, even after destroying the Pacers 115-83 in Game 5 and seemingly having a stranglehold on the series, there's cause for some unease for the Heat. The easiest way Miami can alleviate that is by closing out the series Thursday night in Indianapolis and avoiding a winner-take-all Game 7 on Saturday in Miami.

That won't be an easy task, as Tuesday's beatdown of the Pacers carried with it a fairly hefty price tag for the Heat. They were already without the services of starting forward Chris Bosh, who was injured earlier in the series. But then, forward Udonis Haslem and reserve center Dexter Pittman both received suspensions from the NBA for retaliatory flagrant fouls in Game 5. Haslem will be forced to sit out Thursday's game 6, while Pittman received an even more severe three game ban according to ESPN.

The absence of Bosh, Haslem and Pittman leaves the Heat woefully thin against a big Indiana frontcourt, which will undoubtedly place additional pressure on superstars Dwyane Wade and LeBron James to carry even more of the load for Miami.

Granted, the dynamic duo were on their game Tuesday, combining for 58 points, and James came two assists away from a triple-double, as the Heat controlled the action from the tip-off to the final buzzer.

It's vital that the two turn in a repeat performance of that stellar showing Thursday. A loss to the Pacers would set up just the sort of situation that could leave the Heat ripe for an upset that would turn the Eastern Conference on its' ear almost as much as the Chicago Bulls' first-round exit did.

Sure, the Heat were obviously a superior team in the regular season, and the game would be played in the friendly confines of American Airlines Arena. So, while of course you want to avoid Game 7 if at all possible, it wouldn't be that bad, would it?

It could be.

Wade has averaged just over 23 points a game in the series and, for the most part, has been his usual outstanding self. But Wade admitted to ESPN after the Heat's Game 3 loss that he's battling leg and knee pain.

The nine-year veteran has also taken a pounding in this series, so much so that Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra recently complained to the Miami Herald about the lack of foul calls when his stars are being hammered:

"

The league does not have a problem with hard fouls on our two main guys. Some of them of the tomahawk variety, some of them have drawn blood — they don’t have a problem with it, so we don’t have a problem with it.

"

Thus, should the Pacers find a way to stay alive Thursday night, it's very possible that we could be looking at a scenario where the Miami Heat's entire season rests on LeBron James' ability to come up huge for his team in a pressure-packed scenario.

This is not exactly a scenario in which "The King" has historically thrived, as evidenced quite clearly by the disappearing act that James pulled during the fourth quarter of nearly every game of the NBA Finals last year.

Yes, James could drop 50 points on the Pacers in a hypothetical Game 7, as could Wade. Even I'll admit that, were I a wagering man, my money would be on the Heat in an elimination game at home against the Pacers, who are scrappy but lack the "alpha dog" type that leads teams to victory in these sorts of games.

The thing is, the jury's still out on whether James is truly an "alpha dog" either (it shouldn't be; he isn't, or he never would have gone to Miami in the first place. You don't join your opponents when you're an alpha dog. You bite them.), so Heat fans had best be hoping that the whole situation can be avoided with a Game 6 win. Otherwise, they may have to spend most of Saturday afternoon trying to watch a basketball game with their hands over their eyes for fear of watching another season for Miami end in disappointment.