Suddenly the Indiana Pacers find themselves with home court advantage in a five-game series against the Miami Heat. Unlike heading into Game 1 in Miami, there appear to be more doubts on the Heat side of the equation than with the Pacers. A serious, sudden change, indeed.

Tonight the Pacers will enjoy a gold and raucous crowd at Bankers Life Fieldhouse looking for them to build on their win in Miami and take control of the Eastern Conference semifinal series. This Pacers team has never backed down from a challenge, but they usually respond better with their backs against the wall. Now they are on even footing with the Heat with a chance to skip a few steps in the normal maturation process of a NBA title contender.

I know it sounds crazy to say, but the circumstances surrounding this season have given the Pacers an opportunity and thus far they have seized it. The Bulls faded out of the picture after Derrick Rose went down. They took care of the Orlando Magic after Dwight Howard went down. Now Chris Bosh is injured for the Heat making things more difficult for LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.

Oh, well. The Pacers were built as a deep team and able to manage minutes throughout the regular season, so they are still standing with plenty of energy to keep attacking the Heat for 48 minutes. Now they just have to do it.

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I've spent a lot of time at youth baseball games and a track meet the past couple of days and had several parents ask me if I thought the Indiana Pacers could actually beat the Miami Heat.

Well, yeah. The Pacers haven't actually played well in the first two games.

Yes, they competed, fought hard and had bursts of exceptional play, but overall there have been too many breakdowns and sloppy turnovers to consider the Pacers (or Heat for that matter) playing anywhere in the vicinity of well. The Pacers have become quite adept at winning ugly and grinding through poor play to give themselves a chance, a big reason they ended up with 42 wins. The Pacers put it together in their Game 3 win over Orlando but I'm having a hard time remembering the last time both the starters and second unit played well in the same game.

So if the Pacers continue to turn the ball over, miss free throws and break down offensively the Pacers will not survive this series with the Heat. On the other hand, if they can tighten up all of those areas and continue delivering a strong defensive effort that prioritizes keeping LeBron James and Dwyane Wade away from the rim while still closing out on shooters on the perimeter, then things will really be rockin' at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

I saw this nice breakdown of Game 2 from Coach Nick at BBallBreakdown.com, in which he actually analyzes both teams as opposed to what the Heat are or are not doing. He also doesn't see much championship caliber play. Check out the video after the jump.

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Our friends from TiqIQ, are continuing their contest on their new Facebook application called TiqIQ CONNECT.

Using the app, you can check-in (in advance) to any Pacers game letting your friends know which games you are going to and where you will be sitting... if you're planning on going... or if you're just watching from home you can also update that status. TiqIQ Connect even provides a thumbnail seat view on your wall so friends can find you, or purchase a ticket near you.

RSVP to every Pacers playoff game, you'll be entered to win tickets to the Finals, should the Pacers advance, or opening night tickets next season, if they don't.

Just click on the button after the jump to update your RSVP status for the next game- and let your friends know where you're sitting. You'll also receive discounts on tickets throughout the season right to your Facebook inbox. Game 3 tickets link.

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The NBA announced on Wednesday that Indiana Pacers President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird was named the 2012 Executive of the Year thanks to the team's improved winning percentage and jump up the standings. That jump was fueled by the development of young players on the roster along with the pre-season acquisitions of David West, George Hill and Lou Amundson. All three played key roles throughout the season.

Bird capped off a strong year by adding playoff veteran and reserve scorere Leandro Barbosa at the trade deadline. While retaining Frank Vogel as the head coach, Bird also pushed his coach to add some quality experience to the bench, which he did by hiring Brian Shaw and Jim Boylen.

The honor makes Bird the first person to win an MVP, Coach of the Year and Executive of the Year award Of course, he also won Rookie of the Year and was named MVP of the NBA Finals (three times). Bird downplayed the honor in typical fashion.

"This is an honor for the Indiana Pacers, not an award for Larry Bird," said Bird. "Everyone in this franchise put in a lot of work and showed a lot of patience as we have tried to get this team to a level on and off the court the fans in Indiana can be proud of. You always believe, and hope, the players you get will fit into a plan and I'm very proud of what our guys and our coaches have accomplished so far this year."

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Somewhere Metta World Peace is perplexed.

As expected, the NBA plugged their nose and decided to let Dwyane Wade play in Game 3 instead of upgrading his flagrant foul against Darren Collison to a Flagrant 2. Makes sense, of course, that a forearm shove in the back of a player running full speed wasn't worthy of a Flagrant 2. Just a little, "oopsy" push among friends, right?

Yeah, right.

Kind of comical how the NBA can just slip out a ruling and not have to answer for it when anyone with no bias (not me) can see that your average NBA player would be punished to the full extent of the law for a similar play. So Wade will get to play on Thursday, which in the grand scheme of things is good since the Heat don't need anymore excuses. They're having trouble keeping track of them already.

Here's the play from a couple of angles, via @jojo30. Love how Danny Granger's pass ended up bouncing off of Wade's head. Maybe the NBA figured that was like time served.

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Now we're having some fun.

Prior to Game 2, Indiana Pacers guard George Hill mentioned to Fox 59 that his team needed to get back to having fun and enjoy the game with one another as they have all season. In the second half of their win over the Miami Heat last night, the Pacers had all kinds of fun.

Dwyane Wade thought they were celebrating after the game, but no, the Pacers were just having fun. I've seen bigger "celebrations" from this crew heading into a timeout after a third quarter run in the regular season. They enjoy playing the game and playing together and when they play well it shows.

It is still hard to believe that the Pacers survived some horrific stretches of play in the first half and still won this game. Extending the series before heading home was huge. Now the Heat know they are in for the long haul and have to rely on LeBron James and Dwyane Wade holding up through a physical series in which they will have to play a ton of minutes.

So now is the time to stay on the grind for the Pacers and get a boost from the home crowd. Earlier this morning, local company MainGate was pumping out 20,000 "Gold Swagger" t-shirts for the crowd on Thursday night. With this series fully in play now, the Fieldhouse should be rockin' like never before.

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It's somewhat hard to imagine how the Indiana Pacers came away with a win given they were once shooting 25% and couldn't get two points to save their lives, but as they have throughout the entire year, the Pacers fought through their nightly struggles to come away with a win they absolutely had to have with a struggling Miami Heat team on their heels the entire second half.

Indiana opened up in a similar sense as they did in Game 1, helping to set the pace by feeding Roy Hibbert and David West in the paint. The successful formula gave Indiana a 16-7 lead just beyond the halfway point of the first quarter. At that point, Miami adjusted on the defensive end, and Indiana lost their composure, effectively collapsing into some of their worst basketball of the season, where an offensive set consisted of dribbling for 15 seconds and hoping for the best.

LeBron James drew the Heat back as the first quarter wore on. Indiana mustered up a single point for the final five and a half minutes, Miami going up 21-17 on a 12-1 run. The silver lining to Indiana's pathetic offensive showcase, complete with bricks, turnovers, and bad possession after bad possession was that they only trailed four after one, and as they labored through a 2-15 shooting stretch, their defense remained focused and locked in as the Heat never jumped out to anything more than an eight point lead.

When Indiana finally broke out of their slump, they did so on a lightning fast 9-0 run thanks to Danny Granger, Paul George, and George Hill to tie the game up at 33 before Miami took a quick five point finish to go up by as many as the half drew to a close. For the Pacers, who shot 25% at a point before catching fire and jumping it up to 31% at the break, holding Miami at 40% for the half.

The defense proved to be key as the Heat, clearly aching for any kind of relief from James and Wade having to carry the entire weight of the team, stumbled out in the third quarter, having a showcase as bad as Indiana's first half woes. The Heat made just three field goals in third quarter, one the Pacers dominated in. Indiana scored 28 of their 78 in the third, holding Miami to 14. Hill and David West helped lead the way for the blue and gold, but it was Leandro Barbosa who made some key plays to put Indiana up double figures as the quarter drew to a close with the Pacers up 61-52.

Miami's struggles weren't on accident. The defensive efforts of Paul George and Danny Granger was monumental on James and Wade, turning the attack first superstars into jump shooters, favoring the Pacers in a huge way. But the Pacers, even up 9, would need to finally make a stand against a favored opponent, as it was obvious every single point was going to be huge in the final period.

Wade and James were the only options for the Heat again in the fourth quarter, and it was up to the Pacers to hold their lead. James got the Heat going early, chipping away at the lead as he and Wade crashed misses to get themselves some easy buckets. It was impressive to watch the two get what they wanted at any point, but more so was the response by the Pacers.

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