Can a Team Beat a Pair of Stars?

That's the question the Indiana Pacers believe will be answered in the affirmative.  I've seen the first two games between the Pacers and the Miami Heat, and both games seemed to underscore the fundamental question.  So far it's a split, with the superstars taking game 1 and the team without stars hanging on by their fingernails to wil game 2.

Indiana doesn't have marquee players.  Their top scorer the past few seasons has been Danny Granger, who is a decent player in the NBA that will never be mentioned in the same breath as LeBron or Kobe.  On the other side, Miami fans are expressing their displeasure with LeBron James, blaming him for failing to step up and defeat the Pacers last night when the game was on the line.

The Pacers use 10 players every game without suffering a significant drop in effectiveness.  They've got a roster full of team-oriented players that play hard, play tough, dive on the floor for loose balls, and are positively mean on the boards.  That's quite a contrast with the Heat, where the rest of the team gives the ball to Dewayne Wade and LeBron James in the fourth quarter and get out of the way. 

The pair of stars accounted for 54 of the Heat's 75 points, while not a single teammate managed more than 5.  The game 1 stats were similar for the Heat.  By contrast, the Pacers spread their 78 points pretty evenly, with 4 of their 5 starters scoring in double figures.

Heat fans need to back off of James.  He's a superstar, sure, but give some credit to the Pacers for playing great defense.  Imagine praising a team's defense when they allowed LeBron "only" 28 points.  Both teams can be credited with strong defensive schemes.  Ending the game in the 70's is a defensive struggle in this league.

In game 1, when the Pacers dominated the first half, my vote on the question would have been "No".  Because in the last 6 minutes of the game, LeBron and D-Wade decided to step up their games and suddenly that terrific Indiana defense looked lost as the two stars slashed, spun, and scored seemingly at will. 

The two stars obviously tried their best to repeat their performance from game 1, but the Pacer defense seemed better prepared to survive the onslaught.

This series may go 7 games, and I won't be surprised if the trend continues.  Miami will win when their two stars dominate, and Indiana will win when they're able to withstand the pair at the end of the game.  The question will be answered at the end of Game 7, one way or the other but only by a whisker.