Three Ball: Miami in Trouble, Spurs Top Clips, Linsanity

May 18, 2012 9:27 am 0 comments

By John Harris |@jhbasketball

Hibbert goes off as Pacers pound on Heat:

Dwyane Wade went scoreless in the first half and had to be separated from Head Coach Erik Spoelstra during the third quarter of a horrific Miami performance that leaves them in a 2-1 hole against a fired-up Indiana team. Wade won’t be adding this 5pt performance to any highlight reels but the story in this one was a brilliant effort from the Pacers in front of a packed Banker’s Life Fieldhouse. Roy Hibbert had 19pts and 18rbs for Indiana and George Hill shot the lights out for 20pts (3-4 inside, 3-4 from deep and 5-5 from the line). Lebron and Chalmers combined for 47pts for the Heat, but had little help from anyone else as the Heat suffered another poor shooting night and left themselves with real work to do to get back into this series.

“Anybody that has been part of a team or has been a coach or been a player, you have no idea how often things like that happen. That was during a very emotional part of the game. We were getting our butt kicked. Dwyane and I have been together for a long, long time. We’ve been through basically everything.”

- Erik Spoelstra

CP3 has another shocker as balanced Spurs dismantle Clippers:

Chris Paul picked up his 3rd foul on a push-off on Tony Parker and looked lost. After his dismal opener Paul was once again below-par, scoring 10pts but only recording 5 assists and struggling throughout. Meanwhile Parker, his opposite number, was celebrating his 30th birthday by slicing through the Clippers to the tune of 20pts as one of 5 Spurs in double figures. LA shot nearly 70% from deep and Blake Griffin was another bright spot with 20pts but he could only pull down 1 (!!) rebound as the Clips struggled once again with San Antonio’s efficient, balanced squad who look poised to close this series out in California next week.

Jeremy Lin attracting interest from across the League:

New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin is reported to be attracting interest from a number of different NBA teams ahead of the off-season. Lin — who is currently re-habbing the injured knee that kept him out of New York’s first round exit at the hands of the Heat — has been linked with the Nets, Warriors, Mavericks and Raptors. Although teams can technically only offer Lin the mid-level exception, they can back-load the deal to give the breakout star a big payday towards the end of his contract. The Knicks can match any offer for Lin, but will already owe big money to Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony so may struggle to make it work financially.

Can the Heat regain momentum vs Indiana? Are the Spurs a true championship-caliber team? Where would you like to see Linsanity land? Let us know in the comments!