When Chris Bosh went down in Game 1 of the Heat’s second round series vs. Indiana, most people thought the Heat would still roll through the Pacers. After losing Game 3 by 19 points and falling down 2-1 in the best of seven series, it looked like one team may roll, only it wouldn’t be the Heat. With only two other players scoring in double digits the entire series (Mario Chalmers and Joel Anthony in Game 3), there was no question that both Lebron James and Dwayne Wade would have to each have a monster game for Miami to win Game 4 in Indiana.

And that’s exactly what happened. James had one of the great NBA playoff performances of all time with 40 points, 18 rebounds and 9 assists, numbers that have only been matched one time in playoff history by Elgin Baylor. Wade dropped 30 points to go along with 9 rebounds and 6 assists. They combined to outscore Indiana in the second half by themselves, 43-39. They became only the 5th set of playoff teammates to have 40 and 30 points in a road playoff game in the last 20 years.

Despite losing Game 4, the Pacers should still feel very confident about the position they’re in. The Heat again got little help from their supporting cast with only Udonis Haslem scoring more then 8 points. Both of Indiana’s big men, Roy Hibbert and David West, were in foul trouble the entire game and were never able to get their offensive games going, scoring just 8 points each. Unless James and Wade are capable of super human performances two more times in this series, the Heat will likely fizzle out early.

The 2011-2012 NBA playoffs are only in their second round. Yet injuries have already put a large asterisk on whoever will be named champion this year. What’s been surprising about the injuries is not necessarily that they’re happening, but who they’re happening to. Old teams like the Celtics and Spurs have stayed relatively healthy, while younger teams like the Bulls and Heat have lost key players.

This injury saga started before the playoffs when Dwight Howard attempted to give Stan Van Gundy a piggy back (just kidding) and herniated a disk in his back. He would elect to have surgery that would cause him to miss the rest of the season.

Then came Derrick Rose whose injury was reminiscent to that of Boobie Miles from the movie Friday Night Lights. In Game 1 of their series vs. the 76ers, the Bulls led by twelve with 1:20 to go. It’s not over until it’s over. But this game was over. Rose drove to the basket to attempt to extend the lead to fourteen and fell awkwardly on his knee tearing his ACL. The Bulls were the only team that could challenge the mighty Heat so the Eastern Conference had an asterisk on it from Game 1. As if that wasn’t enough, the Bulls would go on to lose Joakim Noah to an ankle injury and then become the 5th number one seed to lose in the first round.

Then came the Knicks slew of injuries which included Iman Shumpert doing his best Rose imitation by tearing his ACL and Amar’e Stoudemire showing he is in fact capable of crashing the glass. While the Knicks posed no real threat to the Heat, they at least could have momentarily slowed them down.

Finally, two days ago Chris Bosh went down with an abdominal strain that will sideline him indefinitely. Bosh has often been referred to as the half man in Miami’s “Two and a Half Men” but his absence was clearly noticed as the Pacers beat the Heat in Bosh’s first game out.

Many fans are glad to see something bad happen to the Heat, but at least they made things exciting. Just wait until we’re watching Indiana play San Antonio in the NBA Finals.