Bosh out with an abdominal strain; Pacers chances increased??

[Fafnir]

If we meet the Heat in the ECF, does Doc tweak our starting lineup if Bosh is still out?

They move Lebron down to the 4 and start Battier at the 3. It is already making me nervous trying to watch Brandon Bass guard Lebron. I have to wonder if Doc won't opt to start Pietrus just simply to guard LeBron or start Ray at the 3 moving Pierce down to the 4. Either makes way more sense to me than trying to have Bass guard him.

They just switch Pierce and Bass defensively.  

Bass guarding Battier? I guess now that you say that, it could work. Bass should be able to abuse Battier down low on the offensive end. (MAYBE  )

They did it earlier against the heat, it worked out okay for the C's though the Heat scored on the C's with it.

But while going small helped the Heat score on the C's it similarly compromised their own defense the one time we saw it play out in a contested game.

[apc]

To be honest Miami without Bosh could still probably push the Celtics to 6 or 7 games.

Their role-players are really really bad though so I still think we would be the favorite to win the series.

KG makes Bosh look like a vet minimum kind of player.
assuming Heat and Celtics meet in the next round, I don’t think Bosh makes much difference.

[snively]

Amazed at how many fans are downplaying Bosh's potential absence.  His efficiency, range and versatility as a 3rd option (and occasional #1 option against the right match-up, e.g. a weak bench big) make him a crucial component of the Miami offense.  Defensively, his speed and length make him the most versatile Miami big man defender.

Their replacements for him are Haslem (who randomly fell apart as a mid-range shooter this year and is shooting 32% in the playoffs), Anthony (one of the worst offensive players in the league), Turiaf (a non-factor offensively) and Juwan Howard (zombie).

[Fafnir]

Amazed at how many fans are downplaying Bosh's potential absence.  His efficiency, range and versatility as a 3rd option (and occasional #1 option against the right match-up, e.g. a weak bench big) make him a crucial component of the Miami offense.  Defensively, his speed and length make him the most versatile Miami big man defender.

Their replacements for him are Haslem (who randomly fell apart as a mid-range shooter this year and is shooting 32% in the playoffs), Anthony (one of the worst offensive players in the league), Turiaf (a non-factor offensively) and Juwan Howard (zombie).

Turiaf and Anthony were able to score some points off of offensive boards and feeds from LBJ/Wade. They have to keep that up and also continue to play great defense to mitigate the lost production from Bosh.

The fact that they're likely to shrink somewhat in other games in this series and that logging a bunch of PF will put some series wear and tear on LBJ means that the Pacers could now make this a long series. I still don't see them upsetting Miami, but it could definitely happen now.

[rickyfan3.0...]

Celtics run of destiny continues.

[rickyfan3.0...]

Oops... feel free to delete this immediately then make me feel bad about it by posting a snarky little quip. 

[youcanthandlethetruth113]

Bosh couldn't even make it out of the locker room at halftime.  Looked like a pretty serious abdominal strain.  Didn't KG have one of those in '08 and miss like 15 games because of it?

Assuming it is a serious strain, and he has to miss multiple games, would the Pacers now be the favorite to win the series?  They're doing pretty well here in game 1 (57-52 as of this post), even with the refs doing everything they can to put the Pacers' most advantageous players on the bench with terrible foul calls.

I was hoping the Pacers would steal game 1, but with a lead and no Bosh they blew it. They need to steal game to to have any prayer of winning the series.

[snively]

If Bosh is out, the Heat's small-ball line-up takes a hit too.  They'll have to go extremely small with Bron at the 5 and Battier at the 4 to get their ideal spacing. 

[colincb]

MIA beat writer Windhorst twitter approx 12:30 Monday afternoon:

Heat have announced Chris Bosh is out indefinitely with abdominal strain. Hard to guess on this injury, but good chance out for series.

[j804]

^still good news no, since no tear or anything?

do these things linger?

[Vermont Green]

Wow, this is big news.  Losing Bosh hurts the team in a number of ways.  First, the idea of them going small with LBJ at 4 and Haslem at 5.  If they do that, I say counter by going really big with KG at our 4 and Steisma.  I like that better than trying to match small with small.

I think what really helps us though is hopefully with this, Miami will either lose to Indiana or be a lot more worn out if they do win.  All remaining Miami players now have to work harder, play more minutes, and just in general they are left with no margin for error with injuries or foul trouble.

This will have a cummulative effect beyond just the line-up/match up impact.

[lightspeed5]

yea i think bosh is fundamental to the heat. pretty big loss

[Fafnir]

^still good news no, since no tear or anything?

Not really sounds like it was a major strain, which does linger the recovery time is typically a matter of weeks. It can be 2 weeks or it could be 4 or more.

Plus coming back to soon means you're almost certainly going to tweak it again at set yourself back to square one.

[rondohondo]

^still good news no, since no tear or anything?

do these things linger?

saw this on the livestrong website about abdominal strains

4. Return to Active Duty

If you're like most people, you might be impatient about returning to your normal activities. The length of time it takes to get rid of an abdominal strain depends on the severity of your injury as well as your response to treatment. Recovery may take weeks or months. A good way to determine if you are fully healed and is to be able to touch your toes or do a crunch without feeling any pain. Remember, returning to active duty too soon may result in straining your abdomen again, maybe worse than it was before.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/3498-need-abdominal-strain/

weeks or months sounds good to me ,I  would imagine he is out until at least game 6 or 7 of the pacers series

[Mr October]

If Bosh is out for the rest of the Indiana series, the Pacers could very well knock them out. If the Heat get through Indiana and Bosh is still out, the C's will have a very solid shot at beating Miami. Even if Bosh is limited, the Heat are going to need some heroic efforts from their big 2. Bosh is the only guy that can neutralize KG.

Although the way KG has been playing, KG would have the edge over a healthy Bosh.