<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> For eight days, they could merely focus on self-improvement and make general preparations. Now, suddenly, the Indiana Pacers are cramming for the Miami Heat as if they were a just-remembered exam. Coach Rick Carlisle and his staff had gathered in their Conseco Fieldhouse offices by the time the final buzzer sounded on the Heat's Game 7 victory Tuesday over New Orleans. Forced to prepare simultaneously for the Heat and Hornets, they can now throw out half of their scouting reports. "It's good to know who it's going to be, but we know it's going to be a tough series," said Carlisle, who has today's practice and Thursday morning's shootaround to hone in on the Heat for that evening's second-round opener at the fieldhouse. "Miami is a team that's peaked at the right time." The coaching staff's first objective will be to convince their players of that. Miami started the season 0-7, but put on a finishing kick that propelled it to a fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. Along the way it lost three games to the Pacers, by a combined 35 points. As much as it's possible for a team to take a second-round playoff opponent lightly, the Pacers are susceptible. They never trailed by more than five points against the Heat. Contrast that to their four-game split with New Orleans, which beat them by double figures in the last two games. Still, they will make a concerted effort to take Miami seriously, just as they did Boston before sweeping it out of the first round. "Miami's young," Pacers guard Kenny Anderson said. "But a lot of their first-year guys are doing well in the playoffs. It's the playoffs and anything can happen. This thing is wide open." Jonathan Bender, the only player to express a preference between the Heat and Hornets before Tuesday's game, chose Miami despite the fact he owns a home in New Orleans. The reason: style of play. The Heat are an up-tempo, finesse team, while the Hornets were more physical. The Pacers believe they can play either style, but most teams prefer a track meet to a street fight.</div> <div align="center"><u>Full Story</u></div>
