Miami Heat

The Pistons got good news Tuesday night.

The Post’s Ethan Skolnick gives CineSport’s Noah Coslov a prediction and the Heat’s keys to victory for their Eastern Conference Finals matchup vs. Roy Hibbert and the Pacers. (function() { var csprtjs = document.createElement('script'); csprtjs.type = 'text/javascript'; csprtjs.async = true; csprtjs.src = 'http://edgecdn.cinesport.com/container.js'; var first_s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; first_s.parentNode.insertBefore(csprtjs, first_s); })();

The Cleveland Cavaliers are on the clock.

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Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports Plain and simple, whichever offense executes the best will win this game and this series. The Indiana Pacers have a great defense — 2nd in opponent’s points per game, a legitimate elite shot blocker in Roy Hibbert — but a Cleveland Cavaliers/Washington Wizards caliber offense. The Miami Heat have a much better offense, which led the league in points per 100 possessions during the regular season, but haven’t had the same defensive success in the playoffs.  That being said, the starting five for the Miami Heat are the best starting five of any team in the playoffs, though the Indiana Pacers have a starting lineup that deserves serious respect. There has been chatter from both sides leading up to this game, and it will be interesting to see what impact (if any) the verbal jabs have had on the play.  We all know it is going to be a physical game (especially considering the history these two teams had last year) but will it all come out in Game 1?  That’ll be entertaining and interesting to see — how fired up will players be? But getting back to the importance of offense in this series — the Indiana Pacers have trouble scoring, and facing a pretty good defense in the Miami Heat (this Heat defense is not like the Knicks “defense”) they will probably have even more trouble scoring.  The Heat on the other hand, have struggled against the Indiana Pacers offensively, cracking 100 points only once during their three meetings in the regular season, and in the first meeting of the season the Heat only scored 77 points. 77 points!!! While it might take defense to win championships, whoever wins tonight’s game needs to have a better offense considering that these two teams play elite defense — which means that the Miami Heat have the slight advantage in Game 1 (and the series).

That surprsing outcome to the Bulls in Game 1 of the second round wasn't a complete waste, according to LeBron James. James said the Heat’s unexpected loss in the opener of the Eastern Conference semifinals provided an important experience going into Wednesday’s Game 1. “It set us up the right way,” James said. “We were off for a while and Chicago came in off a seven-game series and they were just on top of their game still and we weren’t. We had eight days off, so I think that gave us a good wake up call and we needed it.” SMALL MARKET OR LARGE MARKET? —One interesting subplot of the conference finals is the rise of the little guy. Indiana, San Antonio and Memphis are considers small-market franchises, while the Heat is generally consider a large-market team. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra noted on Monday that perception regarding the Heat has changed since the Big 3 arrived in Miami. “You know what’s interesting…and Micky [Arison] has always talked about this, Miami was never considered a big-market team until we put together this team, so it shows you can change perspective by the personnel you have and the type of team you put together,” Spoelstra said. “If you build it, they will come.” Is the Heat a large-market team? In terms of perception, I'd say, yes, the Heat is large-market team. In terms of cold-hard numbers, Arison would still argue that the Heat is small-market. Of course, Arison doesn't want to share his profits with other owners around the league, so his position on the subject is understandable.

The Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers will meet in the postseason for the second consecutive year, but this time, it's in the Eastern Conference Finals, beginning Wednesday night in Miami.

Q: Do you think the Heat are too good? I know the ultimate test(s) are still to come in the remainder of the playoffs. The Heat are 45-3 in their last 48 games. Does this make for compelling basketball? -- Stuart.

SAN ANTONIO-He did it with lobs into the post, simple bounce passes and wild flips into the corners.

If the Western Conference finals seem the slightest bit over after two San Antonio wins, hold that thought for a minute.