What will happen in the Heat-Pacers series with Bosh out "indefinitely”?

Chris Bosh was already marked as out "indefinitely” against the Pacers and likely, in the whole series. With this, it makes this matchup become unpredictable on who will now advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. Although, for some people, the outcome of series never changed for them with the injury of Bosh, it was sure to believe that there are also or more people out there that this Pacers team can now turn a possible upset into reality. We all know that the Heat’s Achilles is on the middle and without Bosh, they become more vulnerable for inside isolations especially with that, the Pacers one strength are in David West and rising superstar Roy Hibbert, both are big men.

Without the presence of Bosh, we may now see Lebron James plays a lot at the Power Forward position to guard West. Probably, it maybe considered as a blessing in disguise when he turned to improve his postgame in the offseason as perhaps, he already knows that this kind of scenario may happen in the next playoffs. You will never know that right? For James, with his versatility, playing Power Forward to the rest of series could never give him any problem. This can be a chance for their shooters to have a better space to pocket those threes. Especially for Mike Miller who already called by Coach Erik Spoelstra to take many three point attempts as they can. On the other hand, Roy Hibbert could take this chance to dominate the paint. With his size and ability, Joel Anthony or even Ronnie Turiaf could give them a lot of tough time containing him.

Is it Joel Anthony or Ronnie Turiaf? Maybe this two Heat bigmen can step-up their game, but only on the defensive side. We just saw Turiaf played limited minutes in their first round match-up against the Knicks, and as Bosh is out, we will see him a lot from Game 2 against the Pacers until Bosh can play again. We learned that Turiaf does not have any major offensive threat, but the upside of bringing him on the court is his energy and hassle. The main mission of this guy, together with Joel Anthony is to contain their opponents bigman, Roy Hibbert. If they can able to do that, it will remain an easy series for the Heat even without Bosh.

However, if Anthony and Turiaf can’t stop Hibbert and West in the middle, could the Heat still win? Well, one of the main questions for the Heat before the beginning of the postseason is their outside shooting. Miller and Battier has not yet find their soft spots for those threes. But if they can able to bring their three point shooting prowess in Game 2 and in the whole series, even the Pacers can established an inside dominance, it will be disregarded.

As I mentioned, the main weakness of the Heat is in the middle. Although I am not counting out their guards, possibly Leandro Barbosa or Paul George. The main players that can take advantage a lot is West and Hibbert. Tyler Hansbrough can also jump his rebounding stats as well. West and Hibbert has good post offense and they can also take some shots outside the paint. So, it is expected that they are going to have a rise on their points average in this series.

If Bosh will really marked as out for the whole series, it will surely become a tough matchup for the Heat if nobody will redeem themselves – Miller, Battier and Turiaf. For Battier, he has been shooting a lot of wide open three’s in their past games but it seems that he isn’t find the right rhythm yet, as well as the case of Miller. This could be the reason for Coach Spoelstra to order their shooters to take a lot of aim in order to find their beat.

In the other side, the Pacers will stay with their game. They have been considered as one of the elites whole season. And at this time, the pressure has shifted to the Heat again. A lot of people will be going to raise their eyebrows on Lebron James but this time, all this will be handled by the “King” and finish this series at home. It will still Miami in 7.