Pacers Make A Mess Of Final Seconds, Still Force OT, Lose Anyway

The Pacers tried their damnedest to screw up the end of a closely-fought Game 1, but thanks to some uncharacteristic help from Ray Allen and an off-balance semi-prayer from Paul George, we went to overtime.

We're not even talking about this* if Ray Allen doesn't miss his first of two free-throws while Marv Albert fills in the three people left in the world who don't already know that Ray Allen is pretty fucking good at shooting free-throws. But the miss meant Indiana still had some life with a three-point deficit and no shot clock. On the ensuing possession, Indiana had a terrible time inbounding the ball and when they finally did get it inbounded, everyone stood around looking at Roy Hibbert holding the ball behind the three-point line.

So Frank Vogel figured he'd call a timeout and inbound it again. It was marginally more successful and with just under a second left, Paul George threw up an off-balance heave that was true. Game inexplicably tied.

Overtime was a back-and-forth affair with Indiana and Miami exchanging old-fashioned three-point plays to go up three (George) and then tie the game (Chris Bosh) with under a minute to go.

The wheels really fell off the wagon in the final seconds of overtime. Another clusterfuck of an inbounds play, a scrum for the ball that saw Indiana miraculously hold onto the ball which eventually wound up in Paul George's hands again, for another off-balance hail-mary three. He missed, but he was fouled.

Paul George stood on the foul line in Miami and drained all three to give Indiana a one-point lead with 2.2 seconds left.

And none of it matters because LEBRON JAMES.

*See final sentence