After the abdominal injury suffered by Chris Bosh in the Game 1 win over the Indiana Pacers, the Miami Heat faced a tough dilemma by trying to replace their best big man. With Bosh set to miss the rest of the second-round series against the Pacers and potentially the rest of the NBA playoffs, the Heat were faced with a tough challenge against Indiana’s frontcourt.

Roy Hibbert, Danny Granger and most notably David West would become serious forces to be reckoned with for the Heat without Bosh in the paint. It turns out that the absence of Bosh is more of a game-changer than anyone predicted with Miami struggling against Indiana in Game 2. Despite playing on their home floor in South Beach, the Heat was unable to close-out the Pacers in the second game of this series and as a result will travel to Indian for Game 3 and Game 4.

Now that the Heat has lost home court advantage in this second-round series with the Pacers, Indiana will have an opportunity to take a commanding lead over Miami before heading back to South Beach for Game 5.

Unfortunately for the Heat, NBA MVP LeBron James has found his new role as a power forward to be “taxing” due to guarding bigger players all game long. LeBron may have scored 28 points in the Game 2 loss to the Pacers, but fell short at the free throw line with the game hanging in the balance.

It’s been no secret throughout LeBron’s career that he isn’t the best player to go to with the game on the line like Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers or Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Now that LeBron has to pick up the slack in the frontcourt in place of Bosh, the league’s MVP might find it hard to preserve his energy for crucial moments.

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