The Indiana Pacers forced a Game 7 against the Miami Heat but the Heat made sure they forced Indiana out of the postseason. It was an anticlimactic ending to a series that was hands down the best so far in the postseason, but the emotions ran high right up to the end even if the score was far from being dramatic. Miami Heat guard Norris Cole and Indiana Pacers forward Jeff Pendergraph go into a late game scuffle and were both tossed with little time remaining in what ended up being a blowout win for the Heat.
The scuffle really wasn’t that bad and it was hardly a shoving match too but the officials made the right call. Blast the refs all you want for how they made some calls during the series, but they were able to make the right call when it came to tossing both Cole and Pendergraph.
Indiana was beyond frustrated after the way they got drilled in Game 7 by the Heat and that was a frustration they couldn’t vent. While the scuffle seemed like nothing, both Cole and Pendergraph looked ready to throw down and what would have ensued would have sullied the game even more than the lopsided nature in which it resulted.
There are weak ejections and non-call ejections and we saw the latter plenty in this series. But this was the correct call as everyone just wanted to get out of AmericanAirlines Arena and continue with their lives and a meaningless brawl at the end of a blowout was the last thing anyone wanted.