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MIAMI - During the dog days of the regular season, the Miami Heat often spoke about the need to not take any shortcuts on the way to the playoffs. Authentic Borje Salming Jersey . And thats true. That doesnt mean they necessarily enjoyed the 82-game run-up to the best time of year. "None of us," Heat forward LeBron James finally confessed, "are here for the regular season." When this core of Heat players was assembled, the only stated goal was winning NBA titles, which also explains why even getting through the first two rounds of these playoffs basically unscathed only merited a short celebration. Miami is back in the Eastern Conference finals for the fourth straight season, and will visit Indiana in Game 1 on Sunday afternoon. The Heat got there by ousting the Brooklyn Nets in five games, the end of that series Wednesday night being briefly accompanied by a few hoots and hollers in the immediate moments after the clinching 96-94 win was completed. Before long, order was restored to the Heat locker room. Two series wins are nice, but they know the road only gets tougher from here. "Like LeBron said, to be in this position four years in a row, this is the reason we came together four years ago," Heat guard Dwyane Wade said. "Weve got a lot more work to do but were a team that doesnt take it for granted. Were a team that worked very hard to get to this point, so were going to go to the next round, the Eastern Conference finals and continue to do what weve done, play this game as hard as we can and try to continue to move forward." Indiana ousted Washington on Thursday night. The Heat and Pacers split four meetings in the regular season. "We know what Indianas capable of," Heat forward Chris Bosh said. "Best defence in the league. Despite their struggles, we still see the same opponent in those guys as we did last year and throughout this year." The Heat are now 32-7 in first- and second-round games in the last four postseasons, that stretch coinciding with the start of the "Big 3" era featuring James, Wade and Bosh teaming up in Miami. That first year, even that star-studded trio wasnt enough. More pieces were added, like Shane Battier a year later and Ray Allen two years later, and theyve all paid dividends since. Allen kept coming up big at big times in the Brooklyn series, hitting clutch free throws to seal Game 4 and then knocking down a 3-pointer with 32 seconds left to put Miami ahead for good in Game 5. Never mind that Allen had missed 11 of his last 12 3-point tries in the series. Just like last year when he saved Miamis season with the legendary desperation 3-pointer in Game 6 of the NBA Finals against San Antonio, when the stakes were highest, Allen came through. "We did what we needed to do, when we had to do it," Allen said. "Total team effort." Miami had trailed for the entire second half of Game 5 against the Nets until that 3-pointer by Allen, a shot set up by Mario Chalmers seeing that Brooklyns Shaun Livingston was charging at him and somehow leaving the best long-range shooter in the history of the game wide open. That was the only break Miami needed. "The most important thing is to stay in the moment," Battier said. "And I dont there is anyone maybe in the history of the game who does it better than Ray Allen." Added Chalmers: "Thats a great option when you know you have the all-time greatest 3-point shooter to your left." A year ago, the Heat needed seven games to beat Indiana in the East finals, then seven more to top San Antonio for their second straight NBA title. Thursday was a rest day for Miami, maybe one of the last ones the Heat will truly have before the season ends. On Friday, the real work starts in earnest. "We still have some business to take care of," James said. "But its great to be able to put ourselves in position to get to where we want to go. We never shortcut the process. We understand that each and every game is going to be a challenge for us." Authentic Justin Holl Jersey . In mens doubles, Vancouvers Vasek Pospisil and American Jack Sock reached the quarter-finals with a 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3), 6-4 win over Croatian Mate Pavic and Andre Sa of Brazil. Toronto Maple Leafs Shop Free Shipping . -- The Oakland Raiders expect to have starting right tackle Tony Pashos back for Sundays game against the Houston Texans. http://www.cheapmapleleafsjerseysauthentic.com/?tag=authentic-igor-ozhiganov-jersey . Cincinnati has lost back-to-back games in overtime, wasting a chance to take a commanding lead in their division.Each week, TSN.ca Fantasy Editor Scott Cullen and NFL Editor Ben Fisher discuss three hot fantasy football topics. After a slow start to the season, is Robert Griffin III fully back? Where in QB rankings will hell finish the year? Cullen: Last week at Minnesota (281 passing yards, three touchdowns) provided RGIII with a season-high 27 fantasy points in TSN leagues, but its likely a case of taking advantage of a porous Vikings 29th-ranked pass defence, which he could very well do against Philadelphias 31st-ranked pass defence this week. In the previous two games, though, Griffin had a total of 13 fantasy points, with only one touchdown pass, so its too soon for me to say hes as good as ever. Hes on the fringe of being a fantasy starter, ranking 12th in QB points this season and close enough that he could easily slide into the Top 10, maybe Top Eight by seasons end. Fisher: RGKnee is finally meeting the lofty preseason expectations of fantasy owners. Hes nearly a Top 10 QB in total points this season but just outside the Top 5 in the last four weeks. It took a little longer for Griffin to return to his rookie form but he appears to be there now. Even with Griffin altering his game to a more cautious one, the injury risk remains high with the sophomore playmaker. That said, Ill assume here he finishes the season healthy and ranks somewhere in the 5-10 range at his position at years end, exactly where a lot of preseason prognostications had him. As a fantasy owner, do you want Rashad Jennings or (a healthy) Darren McFadden starting at RB for the Raiders? Cullen: What Jennings has done really well, when given the opportunity is add yardage in the passing game to his overall totals, so in three games that he has had more than 20 touches, hes gained more than 100 yards from scrimmage. While McFadden has been an effective receiver in the past, hes hardly being used that way now, so his production hasnt been as strong. Strange as it is to say, Id go with Jennings until some team proves theyy can bottle him up. Authentic John Tavares Jersey. Fisher: Fantasy owners have long known that taking Darren McFadden in the draft also means you have to spend a late pick on his backup, this year of course being Jennings. Jennings has already paid for himself for the prudent fantasy owner filling in for the injured McFadden, and could prove even more valuable before the season is out. Jennings has simply been the better back all year in Oakland and head coach Dennis Allen confirmed this week what fantasy owners already knew – he deserves more carries even when McFadden returns from injury. The former Jacksonville Jaguar seemingly blew his chance to be a starter last year filling in for the injured MJD, but hes earned another shot this year with the Raiders. At this point a healthy McFadden would likely steal enough carries from the 28-year-old to render both RBs ineffective fantasy starters, but as we all know a healthy McFadden is rarely the case. Is Riley Cooper a legit WR1 with Nick Foles at QB, or just enjoying a hot streak? Cullen: It doesnt appear to be mere coincidence that Coopers game has taken off since Foles took over at quarterback, but WR1 is a lofty placement, especially considering DeSean Jackson already ranks among the top five wideouts in fantasy points per game (13.0) this season. Coopers last two weeks have been monstrous (241 YDS, 5 TD, 54 fantasy points), but Id feel more comfortable with him in a WR2 or even Flex slot. Fisher: I struggled with this one. On one hand, a look at Riley Coopers targets suggest hes not a big enough part of the Eagles offence to rely on from week to week, but on the other hand the speedy 26-year-old is proving to be a playmaker, someone that makes the most of his (somewhat) opportunities. Cooper appears to have developed some nice chemistry with QB Nick Foles, but I like my WR1 to average a few more than five targets a game (just half the targets received by league leaders). For now Ill keep Cooper in the WR2 category. 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