The Miami Heat have been dominating the Indiana Pacers in this Eastern Conference Finals, but it seems that the two teams are evenly matched when each new game starts. This isn’t a series like the ones we’ve seen with Miami where they were clearly going to win against the Bobcats and Nets, rather each new game harbors hope for the Pacers that they can pull it out and walk away with a win.
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It’s like a sibling rivalry, and that’s something the Pacers head coach Frank Vogel pointed out when talking to the media this weekend ahead of tonight’s Game 4 matchup in South Beach.
Vogel noted, via Wheat Hotchkiss from NBA.com, that the Miami Heat are like big brothers to the Pacers which means that Indiana will have to stand up to Miami at some point and say that enough is enough in this sibling rivalry.
"“The little brother spends his whole life getting beat up by the big brother, getting beaten in sporting events, one-on-one basketball and what not,” Vogel said. “And all them years of getting beat up builds them up to the point where they ultimately take on the big brother. That’s what we’re hoping to do.”"
Vogel isn’t wrong in his assessment that the Pacers need to step things up, but he may be off a bit about the big brother/little brother bit. While that’s a cute idea and seems to push across a feeling of unity, the Pacers and Heat hate each other and there’s not a whole lot of brotherly love between the two.
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Still, his metaphor makes sense in that Indiana won’t be taken seriously until they can get past ‘big brother’. Until then though, this rivalry is less of a big brother/little brother thing and more about the Heat just being dominant.