Indiana Pacers vs. Miami Heat: Game 5 Postgame Grades and Analysis

The Miami Heat used a dominant 16-point third quarter from LeBron James to run away with a 90-79 Game 5 win over the Indiana Pacers. 

LeBron and Co. came out looking lackadaisical and once again overwhelmed by the Pacers' intensity on the interior. 

Paul George and Roy Hibbert were the only two players to score for Indiana in the first quarter, and they still outscored Miami, 23-19. That's how dominant the Pacers were in the early parts of Game 5. 

Well, that all changed once LeBron decided to light a fire under the Heat and lead them with a pre-second half speech and a memorable third-quarter performance in which he had a hand in 25 of the Heat's 30 points.

LeBron ended with 30 points, eight rebounds, six assists, two steals and a block, and most importantly, he wasn't afraid to talk a little smack with the Pacers who were trying to get under his skin. 

George and Hibbert led the way for Indiana, with 49 of the Pacers' 79 points, but it just wasn't enough to overcome Miami's impressive second-half surge. 

Game 6 is set for Saturday night, and it's certainly going to be an epic game that you won't want to miss. 

Point Guards

George Hill, PG Pacers

Well, I'll just state the obvious and let everyone know that George Hill was a detriment to the Pacers in Game 5.

He accounted for one point, four assists, three steals, three turnovers and four personal fouls—he also shot 0-of-4 from the field.

The Pacers absolutely can't win without Hill contributing a significant amount to the offense, and that means more than just dishing out assists.

Mario Chalmers and Norris Cole abused him nearly every possession down the floor, and that's a major reason why the Pacers were unable to hang with the Heat.

Overall Grade: F

Mario Chalmers, PG Heat

There's clearly two versions of Mario Chalmers. The regular season and the playoff versions. 

Luckily, the playoff version of Chalmers is the one where he scores double digits and dishes out at least five assists.

Chalmers ended Game 5 with 12 points and six assists, and he committed just one turnover all game long.

While you could argue that putting up 12 shots isn't what the Heat need from Chalmers, you can't argue with the results. With Chalmers being a legitimate scoring threat, the Heat are a much more dangerous and well-balanced team.

The Pacers saw that first hand in Game 5. 

Overall Grade: B

Shooting Guards

Lance Stephenson, SG Pacers

It looks like the Pacers go as Lance Stephenson goes.

In Game 4 he had 20 points and the Pacers won. In Game 5 he scored four points on 2-of-7 shooting and the Pacers lost. 

While it may be a stretch to say that Indiana goes as Stephenson goes, there's no doubting that his production is integral to Indiana's success. 

Stephenson is a solid third option for the Pacers, and he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn in Game 5—with his four points coming when the game was clearly in hand for Miami.

In the past few games, Stephenson has done a solid job of contributing on the glass but that wasn't the case on Thursday night. Hopefully for the Pacers sake', Stephenson can forget about Game 5 and get ready for a must-win Game 6. 

Overall Grade: D

Dwyane Wade, SG Heat

There absolutely has to be more wrong with Dwyane Wade's knee than we know because he's looked rather pedestrian this series, and he was awful in Game 5.

Okay, awful is a stretch, but he wasn't the typical Dwyane Wade the Heat are accustomed to, with 10 points on 3-of-8 shooting, six rebounds and four assists.

Wade also committed three turnovers and while he came alive more in the second half, his play was still rather average, considering that he's an All-Star caliber player.

It will be interesting to see if Wade continues to play at this level, because it looks like he's safely transitioned into being second fiddle to LeBron and his dominance. That works for the Heat, and there's no reason to change it, but it's an interesting transition for Wade.

The Heat will need more out of Wade, however, when they face the Pacers on the road in a pivotal Game 6, because we all know winning on the road isn't as easy as winning at home in South Beach.

Overall Grade: C

Small Forwards

Paul George, SF Pacers

There's the Paul George that we all came to know and love this season.

With 27 points, on 11-of-19 shooting, 11 rebounds and five assists, George had a stellar game—although it was overshadowed by LeBron's third-quarter dominance. 

The issue with George's performance though, as has been true during the majority of this series, was his tendency to turn the ball over.

He committed five turnovers and overcommitted on defense a number of times that helped the Heat extend their lead in the third and ultimately pull away. 

It will be exciting to see what George has in store for his first must-win game in an ECF in his career.

Overall Grade: B+

LeBron James, SF Heat

The monster known as LeBron James came alive in the third quarter, as he outscored the Pacers by himself, 16-13. 

Just when the Heat looked like they might actually be overpowered and outmatched in this series, their true leader stepped his game up, and it was mesmerizing to watch.

In addition to outscoring the Pacers in the third, he scored and assisted on 25 of the 30 third-quarter points for Miami.

At halftime, LeBron came into the Heat's huddle and lit his teammates up. While it appeared that his words of choice were not PG rated, it's clear that his words got the job done. What's even better is that he backed up his passionate speech with dominance on the court. 

LeBron ended Game 5 with a memorable 30 points, eight rebounds, six assists, two steals and a block, and he helped solidify his role as the true leader for the Heat.

It was encouraging to see LeBron not only step his game up, but also leading his teammates in a very vocal way.

It's clear that LeBron wasn't interested in playing a Game 7 in South Beach. He wants to take this series in six games.

Overall Grade: A

Power Forwards

David West, PF Pacers

There's a difference between playing with intensity and playing recklessly and David West balances that fine line every time he is on the floor.

In Game 5 his reckless play led to missed layups and overly aggressive defense that gave the Heat either open looks at the rim or trips to the free-throw line.

Even in spite of that he still ended with 17 points and eight rebounds. But his inability to key on Udonis Haslem and slow him down in the third quarter was a major reason why the Pacers couldn't hang with Miami.

West needs to focus more on being disciplined on the court than arguing with the refs, because he did way too much of that in Game 5.

Overall Grade: B-

Udonis Haslem, PF Heat

Maybe Udonis Haslem has finally found his game once again. If he has, he did it at just the right time. 

He mirrored his impressive Game 3 performance with a solid 16 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the field.

The best piece of his production though were the 10 points on 5-of-5 shooting he accounted for in the Heat's impressive 30-13 third quarter.

While LeBron is the clear leader for the Heat, Udonis Haslem is that extra spark that the Heat feed off of, and they certainly did that in Game 5. 

Haslem's impressive defensive performance against Hibbert and David West was a major reason why the Heat are one step closer to being in the NBA Finals. 

Overall Grade: A

Centers

Roy Hibbert, C Pacers

It was a tale of two halves for Roy Hibbert, with the most important one–the second half—being his worst half.

In the first half Hibbert was dominant with 16 points through the 15 minutes of action. Unfortunately for the Pacers, he cooled off rather quickly.

In the latter part of the second quarter and well into the second half, the Heat began to double-team Hibbert every time he touched the ball and that was a real difference maker for Miami. 

Taking Hibbert out of the game allowed Miami to once again control the pace of the game, and ultimately the series.

Even so, Hibbert still had a good game with 22 points, six rebounds and two blocks. In the second half though, Hibbert wasn't enough for the Pacers to escape South Beach with the win.

Overall Grade: B

Chris Bosh, C Heat

It's time for Chris Bosh to either step up or begin packing his bags for a trip out of Miami because he's been a detriment to the Heat during this series.

Before Erik Spoelstra intelligently put Udonis Haslem back into the game, Bosh was allowing Roy Hibbert to abuse him in the paint. 

Bosh was soft on defense and inefficient on offense scoring just seven points on 3-of-7 shooting from the field.

While the Heat still got the win, it must be noted that Bosh is not playing anywhere close to his "Big Three" level, and while you can chalk some of that up to Hibbert's defense, Bosh is still lacking a sense of urgency that everyone else on his team was bringing to the floor.

Overall Grade: C-

Sixth Men

D.J. Augustin, PG Pacers

The Pacers didn't get any production from the point guard position in Game 5. 

George Hill started the game at the point and accounted for a whopping one point, and Augustin followed it up with zero points coming off the bench.

In the 17 minutes he was on the court, all Augustin did was turn the ball over once and foul LeBron once. I'm not Frank Vogel, but I'm pretty sure that's not what he wanted out of his main man off the bench.

Overall Grade: F

Chris Andersen, C Heat

Tyler Hansbrough got the brunt of Chris Andersen's production in Game 5, and it came in the form of an elbow, followed by a straight-up shove.

That technical foul, in addition to his two blocked shots—one coming against the aforementioned Hansbrough following his shove—were the main focus of Andersen's production but it inspired the Heat.

He also scored his 17th and 18th consecutive field goals, even sinking a mid-range jumper in the fourth quarter. 

All in all, Andersen had a solid game with four points, four rebounds and two blocks. It would be rather impressive if he ended the Eastern Conference Finals without missing a single shot. Solid stuff from the Bird Man.

Overall Grade: B

Benches

Indiana Pacers Bench

Once again, the Pacers just didn't get anything from their bench. 

In Game 4 they were able to win without any second-unit production, but unfortunately that can't be said  for Game 5. 

In 51 total minutes, the Pacers' bench accounted for eight points, five rebounds and three turnovers. When the Heat play with a sense of urgency, like they did in Game 5, there's just no way the Pacers can win without any production coming off the bench.

Overall Grade: D-

Miami Heat Bench 

While the Heat's bench scored just seven more points than the Pacers' bench, the difference between the two was that the Heat's second unit brought passion, emotion and intensity to the floor.

Chris Andersen led the way with his emotional Flagrant 1 that probably should've been a Flagrant 2 that led to an ejection, but hey, it's not Andersen's fault that Tyler Hansbrough didn't fall to the ground.

Ray Allen finally found his stroke, well sort of, with seven points on 2-of-6 shooting. The stroke he found was his shot from the charity stripe, shooting 2-of-2 from the free-throw line. 

Norris Cole had an enormous block on David West in the paint that got Miami's crowd on their feet, and his defensive pressure on the perimeter was second-to-none.

If the Heat bring this level of intensity off the bench in Game 6 on Saturday, they are going to be headed to the 2013 NBA Finals.

Overall Grade: B