Tonight at 8:30 p.m. ET the Miami Heat will try to close out the Eastern Conference Finals in a Game 5 in Indiana against the desperate Pacers on ESPN. Live stream the game for free by clicking this link; Pacers fans can listen to the radio broadcast on 1070 The Fan, while Heat fans can hear the action on 790 The Ticket.
The Pacers are not only in a 3-1 hole, their own head coach is questioning their confidence level. "I think anytime you lose three in a row in the playoffs, it shakes your confidence some," Frank Vogel said. "But we can't worry about that. All we've got to worry about is coming back and winning Game 5 and giving us an opportunity to come down here and win one game."
He finished his thought on an optimistic note, though. "We've won one game in each playoff series that we've played here the last two years. We should have confidence that we can do that."
Vogel also tried to squash the talk from his players of poor officiating that they feel favored the Heat, specifically in Game 4. Star player Paul George said there was "home cooking," while David West quipped "We learned some new rules."
Vogel doesn't want the team focused on things outside their realm of influence. "We can't control calls," Vogel said. "We've got to worry about what we (can control), our turnovers, our shot selection, our passing, our defense."
While the Heat are a veteran group and Indiana's psyche looks like it's crumbling, Miami is under no impression that this game will be easy. "We know we can close it out, but it's going to be a very hostile environment," Chris Bosh said. "We're expecting that. We're expecting them at their best. It's always extremely hard to close out a team."
Pacers point guard George Hill concurs with Bosh's assessment. "I think that is when we are at our best, when our back is against the wall," Hill said. "We are going to be home in front of our fans and I'm sure they're going to be going crazy."
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