The Indiana Pacers were in position to steal Game 5 from the Miami Heat until late in the second quarter when Danny Granger landed on the foot of LeBron James after a three-point attempt, spraining his left ankle.

They were not playing particularly well, but only trailed 41-38 with 2:48 left in the first half when Granger headed to the locker room. A manageable three-point deficit then ballooned to nine (49-40) as Miami closed the half on an 8-2 run after Granger went down.

Prior to the injury, Indiana had done a terrific job of hanging around despite an awful offensive performance and excellent shooting from the Heat. At the half, Miami was shooting 53%, including 5-for-9 from three, and held a plus-five rebounding advantage. The Pacers hit just 38% of their shots in the first half and their offense was stagnant and their passes were lazy.

Granger was in the game to begin the third quarter, but a few minutes in he fouled James when it was apparent that he couldn’t chase him down the floor. He retreated to the locker room and soon after the Pacers announced that he would not return.

The loss of Granger was threefold.

The offense was even sloppier without the veteran – they scored 11 points in the first 10 minutes following the initial injury and finished shooting 33.7%. The defense wasn’t as tight because Granger wasn’t on the floor to defend James – Miami shot a franchise playoff-best 61.4%. Paul George slid over to defend James, forcing Frank Vogel to employ Dahntay Jones on Dwyane Wade.

In turn, the offense took another hit with Jones forced onto the floor for defensive purposes. He played minutes in place of Granger, but that was also time that usually goes to Leandro Barbosa. He wasn’t brilliant offensively on Tuesday night, but Barbosa keeps defenses on their heels because of his speed and on nine out of ten nights he’s the better offensive option.

It also seemed as though the Pacers resigned themselves to defeat when Granger went down. No one has really talked about it in this manner, but he has done a great job of guarding his younger teammates from negativity or criticism with his aggressive approach against LeBron on the court and with the media off of it.

George has played very good defense, but provided almost nothing on the offensive end.

Roy Hibbert dominated in Game 3 with 19 points, 18 rebounds and five blocks, but he hasn’t had the same effect in any of the other four games.

George Hill was arguably the MVP of the Orlando series, but he has cooled off since. He is shooting 42.2% against Miami and has committed three turnovers per game.

Nationally, none of this has been talked about because of the comments Granger has made about the lack respect he believes the Pacers receive and his on-court battles with LeBron.

The problems for the Pacers in Game 5, with or without Granger, were obvious:

On The Glass

To compete with the Heat, the Pacers have to control the rebounding battle and they struggled on Tuesday night. In two wins, Indiana is +26 on the glass with 15.5 offensive boards per game. In the other three games, Miami is +30 and the Pacers have averaged just 9.6 offensive rebounds.

In The Paint

The Heat scored 38 paints in the paint in both Games 2 and 3, but they averaged close to 50 in that category in their three wins. Even without a dominant post player, Miami is going to compile points inside off penetration by LeBron and Wade.

The troubling aspect for the Pacers is the lack of touches for Hibbert in the last two games. Indiana had 26 points in the paint in Game 5 and 32 in Game 4. Pounding the ball into the paint has been Indiana’s best offensive look in the playoffs and it’s vital that they keep Miami in the half court on the other end of the floor. At the very least, feeding Hibbert and David West keeps LeBron and Wade from their trademark high-flying fast breaks.

Third Quarter Holds True

In each of the first five games of this series, the team that has won the third quarter has gone on to win the game. In Game 5, the Heat took a nine-point edge and turned the game into a 19-point blowout with Granger in the locker room. 

The Pacers went 6-for-22 from the field in the quarter when they simply couldn’t buy a basket as their poor passing failed to setup good looks. Unlike other stretches in the series when their defense was able to keep them in the game, Indiana couldn’t stop the Heat. Miami was 9-for-14 and 8-for-10 from the foul line.

Hansbrough, Haslem And Pittman

An already physical series turned more so in the second quarter when Tyler Hansbrough committed a Flagrant I foul on Wade, raking him across the face on a drive to the hoop.

Hansbrough commits playoff fouls in the regular season, so his wasn’t all that surprising. However, when Udonis Haslem retaliated soon after as Hansbrough attempted a drive of his own, I expected the officials to whistle a Flagrant II.

I’d be surprised if the NBA did anything more than upgrade Haslem’s foul to a Flagrant II on the off day.

Dexter Pittman’s call to the league office isn’t likely to go as smoothly. With the outcome of the game long determined, the reserve center sent Indiana’s Lance Stephenson reeling with an elbow under the chin that was disguised as a box-out. Even worse than the play itself, magnified and perhaps a result of Stephenson’s choke gesture at James earlier in the series and ensuing confrontation with Juwan Howard, was the wink Pittman delivered on national television.

Pittman made roughly $750,000 this season, so a fine of $50,000-plus and a lengthy suspension will hit him a lot harder than he did Stephenson, which is saying something.