Joel Anthony News

It is perhaps the greatest joy of Dan Craig's job. As Miami Heat video coordinator, it is his responsibility to break down every game.

CENTER: Centers? What centers? Both teams essentially enter playing power forwards masquerading as starting centers, the Celtics with Kevin Garnett , the Heat with, at least for the moment, Ronny Turiaf .

Ever since the Miami Heat pulled off the free agency coup in 2010 to acquire Dwyane Wade , LeBron James and Chris Bosh , Erik Spoelstra would find himself in a no-win situation regardless of the results.

Miami, with or without Chris Bosh, will be the heavy favourite no matter who lines up on the other side in the Eastern Conference final.

This is an excerpt from an ESPN insider article in which David Thorpe lists him MVP's for the playoffs.

MAY 24: Shane Battier #31 of the Miami Heat battles for position against David West #21 of the Indiana Pacers in Game Six of the Eastern Conference Semifinals during the 2012 NBA Playoffs on May 24, 2012 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Even as they're preparing to play basketball, with Game 6 of the East semifinals on tap here at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, the Miami Heat are still spending time talking about the non-basketball tactics employed by the Pacers.

OVER. LeBron realizes how crucial this game is, and after putting up 30 in a blowout and 40 the game before, I'm going to go with that he absolutely explodes tonight.

The Miami Heat have their sights set on the Eastern Conference Finals and need just one more to get there.

Back in the day, when violence was king and Pat Riley was puppet-master, a colleague in New York warned me where the initial round of Heat-Knicks was headed.

It looks like the Miami Heat are going to be able to get past the Indiana Pacers after a convincing 115-83 victory in Game 5, but Erik Spoelstra's squad won't be winning a championship without Chris Bosh .

He stuck with the same group - Mario Chalmers, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Shane Battier and Ronny Turiaf - that fell behind Indiana 9-0 in less than four minutes in Game 4. Battier drained two early three-pointers and each starter scored as the Heat raced to a 14-8 lead before Spoelstra sent in his first substitute, center Joel Anthony.

The Eastern Conference semifinals match-up between the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers is locked at two games apiece in the best-of-seven series.

You have a transcendent MVP and a former Finals MVP, the most feared pair of wings in the NBA.

On many teams these numbers would make an impressive contribution for the entire starting 5. But this, as we've all learned, is far from being most teams.

The missed shots piled up, and Dwyane Wade was at a loss to explain the problem.

If the Miami Heat want to keep their nightmares from becoming reality, they must beat the Indiana Pacers on Sunday to avoid a 3-1 hole.

Despite the overwhelming media and fan reaction to the Miami Heat's Game 3 loss to the Indiana Pacers, LeBron James and company are just one win away from reclaiming home court advantage in their Eastern Conference semifinal series, and placing all of the pressure to win Game 5 on Indiana.

Evident by their Game 3 beat down at the hands of the Indiana Pacers , the Miami Heat have the look of a team in trouble.

Move aside: Pacers center Roy Hibbert takes a shot between the Heat's Joel Anthony and Shane Battier on Thursday in Indianapolis.