HEAT Check: People Don't Fully Appreciate What the HEAT Did In Game 6 vs. Pacers

The Miami HEAT made beating the Indiana Pacers in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals look easy, but it definitely wasn't.

Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned
Here's what fans can do if they want to experience how hard it was for the Miami HEAT to go onto the Pacers' homecourt and win Game 6...

• Take two friends and two pylons to the local court and play 5-on-5
• Try to outscore the other team by 12 points
• Oh, yeah... the court has to be in gang territory
• And your two friends have to be 2-6 inches shorter than the other team's big men

Basically, it should feel like playing 3-on-5 in the championship game of the streetball tournament from Above the Rim.

Shaved Monkey Nuts aka Shane Battier played 39.6 minutes in Game 6, shot 1-7 from the floor, took no free throws and grabbed zero offensive rebounds. His only positive contribution to the offense was two assists with no turnovers.

Joel Anthony played 34.4 minutes in Game 6, only took 3 shots, made 2 of them, grabbed 1 offensive rebound and had 1 turnover.

Shaved Monkey Nuts and The Warden were pretty much useless on offense. Despite playing offense 3-on-5 against a Top 10 defense in a hostile environment with biased refs, the HEAT managed to beat the Pacers by 12 points in Indiana.

Underappreciated
Only 3 other teams have won a playoff game on the road in the last 25 years when they were out-rebounded by double-digits, took less free throws than the opponent and allowed the opponent to shoot 48% or better from the floor: 2003 Mavericks, 1998 Bulls and 1991 Warriors.

Only 1 of those teams did it in an elimination game: the 1998 Bulls in Game 6 of the NBA Finals. You may remember the shot Michael Jordan hit to win that game.

Big shots in crunch time is a common theme for those 3 other playoff games won on the road in adverse conditions. Those 3 games were won by a total of 4 points and one of them went into double overtime. THE HEAT BEAT THE PACERS BY 12 IN REGULATION!

HEAT fans, and NBA fans in general, need to appreciate what we all witnessed last night. Dwyane Wade and LeBron James gave fans a masterpiece in Game 6. It was truly the Art of Greatness.