INDIANAPOLIS – Days later, they were all still incensed within the Indiana Pacers’ locker room over how comfortable LeBron James has gotten in Miami, how he and Dwyane Wade took turns talking trash to Lance Stephenson. These Pacers played with freedom, without a care for their standing all year in the Heat’s building, and yet Game 5 of this feverish Eastern Conference Finals taught them a cruel lesson, unwinding them for the young team they are. James ran ungoverned, ran the score with his dominance, and the Pacers felt so helpless.

Congratulations on giving the Heat a valiant run, some Pacers players would hear leading up to Game 6 on Saturday. Congrats on a terrific season, they’d listen. Meanwhile, Frank Vogel continued to pump confidence into his team, a group that always exudes fearlessness at home but sometimes creeps into bad habits on the road.

As Roy Hibbert headed out of the locker room one last time Saturday after another demolishing 24-point, 11-rebound performance in Indiana’s 91-77 win, his co-star Paul George trailed and patted the big man on the back. All along, the Pacers’ season has been about taking down the Heat, not settling for simply testing them. So, Hibbert looked back, grinned and delivered George an unmistakable message late Saturday at the Fieldhouse: “Let’s get it.”

Out of nowhere, all the talent surrounding James has dissipated with its play, and now the Pacers are one win from The Finals. One win from possibly shaking up the Heat in an absolutely devastating way. And still, Stephenson knows the fury with which the Heat play at home and the way they’ll bait Indiana into playing a comfortable, free flowing style. Mostly, he understands that the Pacers’ discipline – their composure, their ball handling – can’t waver.

“It’s tough out there and they hit big shots at their house, and bother us,” Stephenson told RealGM. “We have to play as a unit. We have to fight through the [trash talk] – not let it get to us. We know we can play with them. Now we have to win in that building.”

Once more, the Heat attempted to ride the wave of a formula that was unattainable for a second straight game: James’ one-man show resembling his Cleveland days, jumpers out of role players and regressing nights from Wade and Chris Bosh. As vital as Chris Andersen had been, Joel Anthony produced eight rebounds and three blocks in the Birdman’s suspension. Andersen or not, Hibbert’s dives for post position were endless, his hook shots smooth, and he made 11 of 20 attempts from the floor.

James will be restless between now and Monday, and most of all, he’ll be studying ways the Heat can find rhythms for Wade and Bosh. Yes, Wade believed Erik Spoelstra needed to put him in better positions offensively in Game 6, but he missed several open looks at the rim and his energy comes and goes throughout these games.

As James put it flatly of Wade and Bosh, “We can state the obvious: they’re both struggling.”

Bosh, for his part, has lacked assertiveness to use his versatility to take Hibbert or David West off the dribble, settling for long jumpers. His shot has failed him, a stroke gone awry at the most crucial time. Even as West played with a high fever and scored 10 of his 11 points in the second half, Bosh stood around the perimeter – desperate for some cohesion, a one for eight output leaving him wondering where his offense comes now.

“I just have to go and get the job done and stop letting the team down,” Bosh said.

The Pacers have established a game plan to beat Miami and have the energy, the exuberance to sustain – not tire as a series reaches its limit. For Hibbert, his aggressiveness swiftly dissolved in last season’s conference semifinals. And George didn’t carry himself as a star a year ago, nor did George Hill as the stable option the Pacers need.

With all of Indiana’s youth, the player giving anecdotes about his experience has been the backup center, Ian Mahinmi. He talks about his championship with the Dallas Mavericks, his team’s dismantling of James’ Heat and the resistance they gave LeBron. “If you guys think this feeling of Game 7 is great, make it to the Finals and win. That feels a lot better than this,” Mahinmi tells them.

Some Indiana players perk up when the possibility comes up of sending a blow to the Heat well past this postseason. In the back of everyone’s minds now, there rests the potential of breaking up Miami as constructed should it falter in Game 7.

Out of only their expectations and ideals, the Pacers will enter absolute bedlam in Miami, where LeBron James has run roughshod on the court. Lance Stephenson knows what’s awaiting them, and still Frank Vogel will develop their confidence between now and Game 7. Here were Hibbert and George, stars in this series, in agreement over an ending of the Eastern Conference finals that would send these franchises in different directions.

Without hesitation, Roy Hibbert and Paul George and the Pacers now agree in unison: Let’s get Game 7.