We're going to get into the meat of each conference finals series over the weekend. Each team by now has rewatched every possession of every game, try...

More than 30 awards were handed out Wednesday at the ESPYS in Los Angeles.

AP Photo, Getty Images Roy Hibbert explains why the Miami Heat are more difficult to guard than the New York Knicks. MIAMI -- It must be weird to be R...

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Dwyane Wade acknowledged before Wednesday's Game 1 against the Indiana Pacers that his left knee injury is more painful than it was last season. This season's injury is a bone bruise while last year's involved the cartilage, which required surgery in the offseason. "It’s unfortunate I’ve had to deal with this thing for two months now," Wade said. "When I feel great, I’m going to attack. When I don’t, I know how to be a team player and give of myself for other guys. "Even though my knee isn’t 100 percent, it ain’t gone.”

James Jones plans to pick up his player option to return to the Miami Heat. “Unless something crazy happens, I’ll be back,’’ Jones said Wednesday. Jones, 32, is reportedly making $1.76 million this season.

Early in the second quarter of Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals between the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers, Indy reserve Sam Young was called for a foul while guarding Heat star LeBron James. Young wasn't thrilled about the ticky-tack foul; the swingman swung his arm down in frustration and connected with the ball after the whistle. James was holding the basketball, and he didn't appreciate the swinging. The two briefly had words, and the referees assessed Young a technical foul. Well, Pacers associate head coach Brian Shaw didn't much care for that call, and he let the officials know it while Ray Allen strode to the line to shoot the technical free throw. As Allen made the shot, Shaw was assessed a technical foul of his own, putting Allen back at the stripe — but this time, the vaunted sharpshooter missed. And when that happened, Shaw knew just what to say: You know, I've always liked that Brian Shaw.

While the Miami Heat might not have played their best game yet in these 2013 playoffs, the Indiana Pacers know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they didn't play their best game in Wednesday's Eastern Conference finals opener, either — and they still came up just one remarkable play by LeBron James (and one arguably unwise decision by Pacers coach Frank Vogel) from scoring an upset overtime win that stripped home-court advantage away from the No. 1 overall seed. They were right there, and they think — they know — they can get there again. Still, they've got some stuff to clean up in Friday night's Game 2 if they want to close the deal and send the series back to Indiana tied up with a chance to take a commanding lead at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Here are three areas where the Pacers must improve to come away with a win: 1. Slow the march to the front of the rim. In our series preview , I noted that the Pacers had done an excellent job during the regular season of keeping the Heat from feasting on shots from their favorite, and the most valuable, spots on the floor — the restricted area (the semicircle directly in front of the basket) and the 3-point arc, especially the shorter corners. That's the centerpiece of the philosophy that made the Pacers the league's best defensive team this year — play tight D outside, don't give shooters space to rise and fire, stay true to your one-on-one assignments and close out like demons when you have to step away, offer help without over-helping and force drivers/pick-and-roll ball-handlers to have to pull up from midrange rather than meet 7-foot-2 Roy Hibbert at the basket. It figured to be a critical element in the Pacers' attempt to overcome the Heat, and Indiana didn't do the best possible job of it in Game 1.

MIAMI (AP) -- Losing a game at the final buzzer, no less than a playoff game on the road against the reigning NBA champion Miami Heat, would seem to have potential to demoralize the Indiana Pacers.