After Chris Bosh's Game 1 abdominal strain changed the landscape of the Eastern Conference semifinals, the Indiana Pacers took advantage of their opportunity in Game 2, scratching out a 78-75 win over the Heat on Tuesday night. It wasn't pretty — the two teams combined to miss 97 field goals in 48 minutes of basketball, including 10 in the final 2:15 of the fourth quarter, as well as 17 free throws, including six in the last 80 seconds — but a win's a win, and given the choice between playing lovely but dropping to 0-2 or getting grimy and being level, Indy'll take the latter.

[Eric Adelson: Miami Heat fail to fill void left by the injured Chris Bosh]

Miami point guard Mario Chalmers had a look at a 3-pointer from the wing that would have knotted the score at 78 with scant seconds remaining, but he missed (though he may have been fouled) and the final buzzer sounded, at which point several Pacers momentarily got slightly happy. That kind of thing can happen when your team just stole a physical one on the road, securing a split at AmericanAirlines Arena that sends you back to Indiana with home-court advantage and much sunnier prospects than most outside of Bankers Life Fieldhouse imagined a week ago.

The reserved revelry was short-lived, though — David West, Indiana's taciturn power forward, quickly kiboshed it, shepherding his teammates off the floor and back to the Indiana locker room.

"You know, we can't get too excited because we won one game," said West — who led Indiana with 16 points (14 of which came in the second half) and 10 rebounds — during his postgame press conference, which you can watch in full after the jump. "That's not our goal in this series. We can't overreact because we were able to get one game down here. We've got to win professionally and understand that we haven't reached the goal that we set out to reach."

Blake Griffin drives on Tim Duncan. (Getty Images)

For every postseason matchup, Ball Don't Lie's resident dummy will offer a topically appropriate entry from the best-selling series of "Deep Thoughts" books written by legendary humorist Jack Handey, plus some of his own original thoughts on the playoff series. The combination will cost you literally nothing; we suggest you use the savings to purchase one of Mr. Handey's life-changing books.

No. 1 San Antonio Spurs vs. No. 5 Los Angeles Clippers

Good lookin' fellers at this Thunder game, boy. (Getty Images)

A gentleman always breaks out his finest threads for special occasions like Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals; these Oklahoma City Thunder fans have given us all something to which we can aspire. Whether they inspired the postgame sartorial choices of lead guard Russell Westbrook remains an open question, as does what these three splendid Sooners were thinking and talking about as they watched their squad beat up on the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night.

Since the question's open, it's up to you to answer it. Best caption wins a gentleman's entrance to a fancy soiree. Good luck.

In our last adventure: Chris Paul is beside Blake Griffin, and Blake Griffin's beside himself.

Danilo Gallinari, down in form as well as spirit. (AP)

It's something of an understatement to say that Danilo Gallinari did not come up big for the Denver Nuggets in their Game 7 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday night, a defeat that sent George Karl's upstart squad home for the summer after the opening round of the NBA playoffs for the second straight season. The 23-year-old forward missed eight of his nine field-goal attempts in the deciding game, scoring just three points in nearly 26 minutes of play and turning the ball over four times. It was a bad scene.

More damning, Karl yanked Gallinari at the 7:07 mark of the third quarter, parking him on the bench for all but a 1:58 stretch midway through the fourth ... during which he coughed it up to Metta World Peace with four minutes left and the Nuggets down five, earning himself a trip right back to the bench. In the biggest game of the year, Denver's coach didn't feel like he could trust a player the team just signed to a four-year, $42 million extension. Less than ideal.

As Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post put it, "Gallo was a zero," and 36 hours after Game 7, he was still pretty torn up about it.

The hurt left an emotional scar. You could feel his humiliation from here to his native Italy.

"I had a bad night. It's my nature, and I was given this by my parents, to live for those big moments. I want big games to prove to myself that I'm a winner and not a loser," Gallinari told me Monday [...]

"I didn't have just the world watching that game, but also my friends, my family and everybody in my home country knew I was coming out to have a big game. And I didn't."

Feeling like you let people down is the worst. The particular strain Gallo is referencing — basically, "the Adam Banks in 'The Mighty Ducks' strain" — is well known to anyone who's ever tried really hard to be excellent when your parent was finally able to get off work and come to your game, but failed. It's a bummer, and it can even stick with you when your head hits the pillow, as Kiszla writes:

MJ has a stanky leg and Dennis is axe-kicking armpits, like always. (Image via www.terezowens.com)

"Oh, man, it is a scorcher out there! Really glad I got the pool cleaned up for the weekend — you know, Neal, if you want to come over and take a dip, you're more than welcome to."

"Um, thanks, but no thanks, Darren."

"Why not? Weatherman said it's gonna hit triple digits by noon, and isn't your air conditioner busted?"

"Yeah, I gotta call the guy."

"OK, so come by!"

"I can't, Darren. In like two months I'll have enough for Scottie, but until then, I ... I just can't."

Fin.

Hat-tips to Terez Owens and I Am A GM.

Bad news, Angelenos. Not even Kobe Bryant thinks his Los Angeles Lakers can guard the Oklahoma City Thunder, probably because he watched Game 1, too. Oh, well. The Thunder score the rare one-game sweep, I guess. It was a good run, L.A. Time to pack your bags and hit the bricks. If you're not sure of the best way out of town, just don't ask this guy, because I'm pretty sure he's never left Oklahoma City, or maybe even the confines of Chesapeake Energy Arena.

Or — and this is just a theory suggested in a piece by Yahoo! Sports NBA columnist Marc J. Spears, who was on the scene in OKC for Monday night's 119-90 beatdown — maybe Bryant was being sarcastic in response to a flat yes-or-no question unlikely to engender a long or serious response from a proud, prickly dude who just watched his team get beat from pillar to post. Maybe he's not totally convinced Russell Westbrook is going to hit 70 percent of his jumpers three more times after shooting 37.7 percent from 10 to 15 feet away, 43 percent from 16 to 23 feet away, and 31.8 percent from 3-point land during the regular season, according to Hoopdata.

Maybe, just maybe, Kobe isn't willing to abandon hope after 48 minutes of a second-round series. Tough to say, though.

Video via 07rcmp.

Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins protect the rim. (Getty Images)

For every postseason matchup, Ball Don't Lie's resident dummy will offer a topically appropriate entry from the best-selling series of "Deep Thoughts" books written by legendary humorist Jack Handey, plus some of his own original thoughts on the playoff series. The combination will cost you literally nothing; we suggest you use the savings to purchase one of Mr. Handey's life-changing books.

No. 2 Oklahoma City Thunder vs. No. 3 Los Angeles Lakers

Blake Griffin can't believe it. (Getty Images)

"Ohmanohgeezohmanohgeezohcrap. Chris, do you know if CSPAN 2 is going to re-air the Book TV on E.O. Wilson's 'The Social Conquest of Earth?'"

"What, you didn't RECORD it?"

"I don't think so. I can't remember. Maybe I did. Maybe it's fine. Maybe I did."

"Man, for your sake, I hope so. Otherwise you're going to be totally lost in Discussion Group this week, and you know how much Kenyon hates it when we're not all caught up."

Best caption wins a string to tie around your finger so that you never forget something this important again. Good luck.

In our last adventure: The Bulls and Sixers cast their eyes skyward.