During the 2012 NBA Playoffs, the Miami Heat — led by forward LeBron James, guard Dwyane Wade and big man Chris Bosh at the time — went on to win the 2012 NBA title.
But, before they beat the Oklahoma City Thunder in the championship series, they were tested by the Indiana Pacers in the second round of the 2012 NBA Playoffs.
Former Pacers big man David West admitted that he thought the Pacers had the Heat beat after they took a 2-1 series lead. During Miami’s Game 3 loss, Wade got into a heated interaction with head coach Erik Spoelstra.
David West and Mike on the “crack” between Dwyane Wade and Erik Spoelstra 👀 pic.twitter.com/oq43JqFbX3
— The OGs Show (@theOGsShow) May 13, 2025
“I remember the first year — U.D. (Udonis Haslem) I think this was the conference semis — this is when you guys lost to Boston in the Eastern Conference Finals, but we went up 2-1,” West said of the series against Miami. “And it was Spo and D-Wade had their little spat. They were yelling at each other going to the bench. And I’m like, ‘Oh, we got them.’ I just knew that was the crack in the armor. But then that next game D-Wade and Bron went to a level and that’s where we all were like, ‘If we’re gonna beat these guys in some point over these next few years, we gonna have to do some really, really, really crazy stuff.'”
To clarify part of what West said, the Heat didn’t actually lose to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. Boston held a 3-2 series lead over Miami at one point, but the Heat still won the series in seven games.
Indiana won the Game 3 in question by 19 points, and Miami got little scoring help from its supporting cast, as the team finished with 75 points in the game and big man Joel Anthony was the only player to reach double digits in scoring outside of Wade and James with Bosh out of the lineup.
West had a productive all-around game in the win for Indiana, considering he ended up with 14 points, nine rebounds and a pair of assists.
Unfortunately for West and the Pacers, the Heat dominated the remainder of the best-of-seven series. The Pacers didn’t pick up another victory over the Heat in that playoff matchup and got eliminated from the 2012 NBA Playoffs in six games.
Two of Indiana’s three losses over the final three games of the series came by double digits as well. The only contest decided by single digits in that span was Game 4, and the Pacers lost that game by eight points.
Plus, the Pacers never got over the hump against the James-led Heat during his time on the team, as after losing to the Heat in the second round of the 2012 NBA Playoffs, the Pacers were knocked out by the Heat in the 2013 and 2014 Eastern Conference Finals.
West did eventually win two titles with the Golden State Warriors in the twilight of his career.