Paul George saved the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat on Wednesday night, but Frank Vogel decided to give the game away in overtime. The Heat prevailed 103-102 in a thriller thanks to LeBron James, who scored a driving layup as time expired at AmericanAirlines Arena.

Indiana didn't play their best basketball, but George hit a prayer of a three-pointer with 0.7 seconds left in regulation to force overtime. The shot came almost ten feet behind the line on a botched offensive possession that Miami couldn't have defend better.

George, who had 18 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, then grabbed hold of the game in the extra frame. He converted a three-point play early and hit three free throws on a questionable foul call with 2.2 seconds left to give the Pacers a 102-101 advantage.

On Indiana's final two defensive possessions, Vogel took Roy Hibbert off the floor in favor of Sam Young to match up better in terms of size with the Heat. Both times LeBron got through the first level of the defense and found the rim unprotected. Both times he scored as Miami survived a scare at home.

This game was one of the best of the postseason thus far and hopefully is a sign of things to come throughout the series, but it's hard not to harp on Vogel's decisions in the final moments.

Wednesday night wasn't the first time Vogel overcoached down the stretch in these playoffs. He took Hibbert off the floor late at times in the New York series, but the Knicks aren't the Heat and they didn't take advantage of the misplay.

Hibbert is one of the game's best rim protectors -- you could argue he's the best -- and LeBron and Dwyane Wade love to attack the basket. He's been touted by many as the key to this series because of the significant size advantage he has over Miami's bigs and his improved defense on penetration. He anchored what was statistically either the best or second-best defense in the NBA in the regular season. Hibbert finished tenth in voting for the Defensive Player of the Year last month.

To put it simply: Roy Hibbert is one of the best defenders in the game and a prime neutralizer for guys like LeBron and Wade. Did I mention Hibbert was an All-Star last season and that he signed a huge contract last summer?

On the final possession, taking Hibbert off the floor left George exposed defensively. He overplayed LeBron on the inbounds pass and the NBA's MVP got the step he needed for an easy layup. We don't know if the referees would have swallowed their whistles (they rarely did in Game 1), but at the very least LeBron would had some resistance at the rim if Hibbert was on the floor.

Pacers Do Job At Three-Point Line

Indiana did a great job of closing out and limiting Miami's open looks from deep. They held the Heat to 5-for-18 (27.8 percent) in the game, actually eclipsing them by less than a percentage point (four makes on 28.6 percent shooting).

Only the Knicks and Rockets averaged more three-point makes than the Heat (8.7) in the regular season. They had the second-highest percentage (39.6 percent) as they value the corner three more than any team in the league.

Miami Does Enough On Glass

Even if the Pacers had pulled out a Game 1 victory, the Heat would have been happy with their rebounding performance. Indiana has all the size and statistics in their favor, but only outrebounded Miami by five. There were a ton of offensive rebounds (33 combined) and the Heat got a ton of second looks late.

Through three quarters, Indiana held a 32-22 rebounding edge. In the final 17 minutes of the game, Miami had a 16-11 advantage.

LeBron and Udonis Haslem combined for 17 rebounds, but it was Chris Andersen that did the most damage. Not exactly an offensive threat, Andersen scored 16 points on 7-for-7 shooting with all of those looks coming within feet (or seemingly inches) of the rim or on putbacks. 

Empty Backcourt

The Pacers let one slip away, but one positive takeaway is how close they were to victory despite a poor performance from the backcourt duo of George Hill and Lance Stephenson. They combined to go 4-for-19 from the field, 0-for-7 from deep, with seven turnovers. Hill doesn't look right, whether it's something lingering from last week's concussion or a possible foot injury (TNT conjecture), as he had trouble simply keeping possession of the basketball.

Stephenson was once again a monster on the glass with 12 rebounds, but didn't follow up his breakout performance from Game 6 on Saturday night with much. He airballed a three long on one play and had a quick trigger on a one in overtime with the Pacers up 99-96 and 81 seconds left. Miami grabbed two offensive rebounds on the ensuing possession and Chris Bosh tied the game with a three-point play.

If the Pacers are going to make this a long series, they'll need at least average performances from Hill and Stephenson.

George's Growing Pains

It's easy to forget that Paul George enjoyed just his 23rd birthday earlier this month, but the scope of his age and maturity was on full display in Game 1. He had two points in the first half, committed six turnovers (including an unsightly one near the end of regulation) and was abused by LeBron at times.

He also sent the game to overtime with a 32-foot three-pointer, gave the Pacers a lead in the extra period and did a respectable job on James more often than not when you consider the assignment. On LeBron's game-winning layup, he overplayed the pass and created an opening for the MVP. He had no safety valve behind him, perhaps he thought he did, but staying in front of James on the play certainly would have increased the degree of difficulty.

Paul George will be an unquestioned superstar very soon, but he's still experiencing some growing pains and they are happening on the game's biggest stage.

Win With Defense

There will be no more harping on Vogel's decision to pull Hibbert late, but the Pacers know who they are and shouldn't try to win any other way. Vogel should force Erik Spoelstra to bend to his bigger lineup rather than try to make a chess move of his own. Indiana has gotten this far by imposing their will and they did so throughout regulation. There is no reason to change the approach when the moments are magnified.

If you take a pessimistic outlook going forward, it's unlikely the Pacers can hang with the Heat in a back-and-forth game consistently. They have to lean on defensive stops, cutting down on offensive rebounds, and do all they can not to count on answering offensively as the series progresses.

There were numerous possessions in which Indiana had to counter after a Miami score and they did well in that regard. They are shooting just 42 percent in the postseason, better than only New York and Boston, and shooting 45 percent (as they did in Game 1) is certainly no guarantee.

Turnover City

As entertaining as the game was, the Pacers and Heat combined for 41 turnovers. They were virtually even in points scored off miscues (Indiana had a 22-18 edge). The Pacers have averaged 4.6 more turnovers than their opponent in the playoffs, while the Heat have committed 1.2 fewer miscues in the second season.

Indiana can't compete with Miami for long if they don't take better care of the basketball. The Heat couldn't take advantage of many of the turnovers on Wednesday night because of a number were of the dead-ball variety and Spoelstra's crew won't make as many bad decisions again in this series.

Unfortunately for the Golden State Warriors, the Collective Bargaining Agreement works against them in a very real way this summer. The rumors that Dwight Howard has interest in the Warriors can only be construed as incredibly encouraging in terms of the development of the franchise, but acquiring him would be very difficult to accomplish this summer.

One of the new CBA rules that goes into effect this summer limits teams who are paying the luxury tax. In short, there is a salary level above the luxury tax called the apron ($4 million in salary above the luxury tax line) and teams over that line cannot do transactions like signing a player to the full mid-level exception, using the Bi-Annual exception, and starting this year they cannot acquire players via sign-and-trade. That limitation means that a team cannot sign a player and immediately trade them to a team over the apron, not the other way around. On top of that, doing any of these three things turns what usually functions as a soft cap that franchises can go over for times into a hard one, meaning that teams using these transactions absolutely cannot go over the apron for any period of time for any reason that season.

While we do not know exactly where the luxury tax line will be for 2013-14, it stood at $70.307 million last season so the apron was $74.307 million.

At the present moment, if Brandon Rush takes his player option and Carl Landry declines his, the Warriors sit at $71,680,588 with 13 players on the books (Curry, Lee, Bogut, Thompson, Barnes, Green, Ezeli, Rush, Jefferson, Biedrins, Bazemore, Jones and Machado). Even without any money allotted for Jarrett Jack and Carl Landry, the team would have approximately $2.6 million under the apron with a small amount of wiggle room depending on guarantees to the minimum guys. If they acquired Howard via sign-and-trade, the apron number would become a hard cap, so they would effectively need to either shed 2013-14 salary in the sign-and-trade, or fill out the roster with bare bones players.

On top of all that, the Lakers would have to agree to send Dwight to a division rival, which may be dicey in and of itself, but would also require the Warriors to give up some players of value. While the Lakers would ask for Stephen Curry, a deal using either Klay Thompson or Harrison Barnes would likely still be palatable enough to make a trade possible. To balance the salaries Bob Myers would likely have to give up either Andrew Bogut or David Lee (almost definitely Bogut) since Biedrins and Jefferson provide no value beyond their expiring contracts. My best guess at a trade the Lakers would accept is Thompson or Barnes, Bogut, and either Draymond Green or Festus Ezeli for Howard.

Dwight’s maximum salary for 2013-14 stands at $20,513,178 since that is a five percent increase on his current salary. As such, the deal I laid out above (Klay, Bogut, and Festus for Dwight, let’s say) would actually cost the Warriors an extra $3.13 million and put them over the apron without corresponding moves.

Getting Dwight this summer sits within the realm of possibility but it would come at a steep, steep cost unless the Lakers are more generous than expected.

The other factor looming over this whole situation has to be the way the Warriors chose to load up their 2013-14 cap figure. By using the amnesty provision on Charlie Bell’s expiring contract back in 2011, the Golden State front office lost the ability to shed either Andris Biedrins or David Lee’s contract at any point over the next few seasons. Using the amnesty on either would have given the Warriors the flexibility to make a move for Dwight Howard right now without the apron coming into play.

What makes matters even more challenging this summer was the decision to effectively purchase the 2012 draft pick used to select Festus Ezeli for Richard Jefferson’s $11 million contract for 2013-14. Steven Jackson’s deal expires this summer and thus would have become cap space at this point. Switching that move or the amnesty decision would have given the Warriors enough space under the apron to acquire Dwight and retain either Jack or Landry with a little bit left over.

While it would make dramatically more sense to acquire a high-level free agent next summer when the team has cap space, the Warriors conceptually could trade for Dwight Howard this summer even though key decisions made over the last few years created a substantially more difficult path to doing so.

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The world didn’t end for the Cleveland Cavaliers after all.

Many people thought it would after LeBron James, the best player of his generation, signed with the Miami Heat in 2010. The narrative in Cleveland, at least much of it, revolved around what wouldn’t happen now that the franchise’s best player left for greener pastures. Things, however, seem to be turning around fairly quickly.

For the second time in three years, the Cavaliers won the NBA Draft Lottery. It can and will be said that celebrating the reward of bad seasons isn’t a good thing. Celebrating the possibilities of a bright future is, however, cause for a few cheers. Their future is no longer defined by James’ decision. They’re in complete control of where they go and how fast they get there. The top pick is a part of the process, but not the only asset they possess.

Kyrie Irving, one of the NBA's most talented young stars, leads a talented group that many believe will be enough to start a dialogue that could eventually lead to the team reacquiring James. At this point a return of James is purely speculation and wishful thinking. Irving, Dion Waiters and Tristan Thompson, however, are real and their talent is enough to lead the franchise back to the playoffs. Their picks in the upcoming draft (they also own No. 19) can only help with the task.

“We were hoping, regardless of what pick we got, that this would be our last lottery,” Dan Gilbert said. “We thought originally after everything had to be reset that it would be a three-year process. You never know. It could be two or it could be four, but we thought three years. With the number one pick this year, and we also have number 19, we think this will be the last lottery for a while here.”

The luck of the lottery, combined with the team’s young talent has made the ending with James easier to move on from. These days, the disappointment of that situation is a memory more than a motivating factor for Cleveland.

“To us, that is so long ago,” Gilbert said. “It’s only three years, but in NBA years, which are like dog years, it seems like it was 15 or 20 years ago. We’ve just been so focused on building a team over the past few years. We can’t look back. There’s nothing we can do, and we’re just happy about today.”

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