MIAMI -- In the first 48 hours of the Eastern Conference finals, Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert has been talked about a lot. We had discussions about whether he should have been in to protect the rim at the end of Game 1. We had discussions about his comments regarding the knee to the groin that he took from
There's a reason the talk has been surrounding the center: He's a very important player for the Pacers.
"I took a lot of shots that I took [in Game 1]," Hibbert said after the 97-93 Pacers victory in Game 2 on Friday night. "But I learned my damn lesson, to tell you the truth. Every time I get a rebound, I think I have an easy bucket. And LeBron or D-Wade comes out of nowhere and blocks my shot.
"At some point, I have to learn -- I went to school for four years at Georgetown. I'm an educated guy."
The max-contract center backed up all of the hype and attention around him by taking on the scoring load for his team and remaining an active presence inside. His Game 1 performance on offense had a lot of volume, but it wasn't terribly effective. He had 19 points on 18 shots but got to the free-throw line just twice.
In Game 2, he announced his presence with authority, scoring 29 points on 15 shots, grabbing 10 rebounds and earning 10 free-throw attempts. Better team pick-and-roll defense complemented Hibbert patrolling the key to allow only 40 points in the paint after giving up 60 in Game 1. With his considerable size advantage against the smaller Miami front line, Hibbert reminded us what a back-to-the-basket scoring big man can look like in today's NBA.
"There's a reason why he was an All-Star last year," Paul George said. "He's coming back to the dominant Roy offensively and defensively that we had last year. Him playing his best basketball at this time is really putting us on another level. It's the reason why we're getting over humps and playing well."
When Hibbert was in the game, the defense that he was anchoring matched the offense that he was producing. The Heat made only 41.7 percent of their shots with Hibbert on the floor, which was a stark contrast to the 69.2 percent that they shot with the All-Star center on the bench. The No. 1 defense that we saw all season long kept its composure through the scoring spurts by the Heat and kept coming back at them.
"I think our defense really won the game for us," Hibbert said. "And we stayed calm. They hit big 3s. They had amazing dunks. They had great plays. But we didn't waver. We stuck together. We didn't start complaining. A lot of times, teams just start buckling, and we've been through the wringer before.
"We're young guys, but we know what we're doing."
What the Pacers are doing is riding the offense of their big men, the momentum of their All-Star small forward Paul George, and heading back to Indiana with home-court advantage following the all-important 1-1 split by the road team.
"We're not going to back down," Hibbert proclaimed. "They could be the champs, but we're coming for them."
