After the Pacers opening game against the Hawks, I talked about how evenly matched the two teams were in the numbers, but one particular number told the story about the game's outcome.  Well, again, one number really tells the story for the final score against the Heat on Friday night.  The final score was 96-83 in favor of Miami.  How did it end up this way?

The Pacers came out and shot a chilly 5-of-24 in first quarter and found themselves down by 12 at the end of the opening 12 minutes.  They were able to fight their way back into the game in the second quarter and were only down by two at the break. 

By game's end, neither team was shooting particularly well, but two things were slowly getting out of control for the Pacers.  The first thing was the amount of fouls Indiana was committing and the second thing was the amount of three pointers they were missing.

The Pacers ended up with six guys over four fouls each.  The 31 total Pacer fouls turned into 46 free throw attempts for the Heat, in which they 35.  Indiana shot a total of 26 free throws, while making 21.  Here is a HUGE key in the victory for Miami.  They outscored the Pacers by 14 points from the free throw line.  When fouls are committed, it slows the game down, when the game is slowed down for a running team....

Indiana shot 4-of-23 from three point range.  That is just over 17% for the game.  The 23 attempts were more than 25% of their 79 attempts.  Actually that accounts for just over 29% of the total shots for the Pacers.  Combine this cold shooting with the sizable margin from the free throw line and that spells a loss.

POG:  I have to give it to Luther Head - 12 points, 3 assists in 23 minutes off the bench

Record:  0 - 2

Next Game:  Tuesday vs Denver Nuggets