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Miami Heat vs Indiana Pacers Game 3 recap

Miami Heat vs Indiana Pacers Game 3 Recap

Miami put LeBron James right in the middle of the action Sunday night, and this time, the Indiana Pacers didn’t have an answer for him or his Miami Heat teammates.

By moving James to the post, the Heat won the scoring battle in the paint, kept Indiana at arm’s length and pulled away for a 114-96 victory and a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.

”I made a conscious effort to get down in the post tonight, to put pressure on their defense,” James said. ”The coaching staff wanted me to be down there tonight, and my teammates allowed me to do that.”

It was a move reminiscent of when the Los Angeles Lakers played Magic Johnson in the post in place of the injured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar during the NBA Finals more than two decades ago.

And it worked just as well.

James rebounded from the two late turnovers that cost Miami in Game 2 by scoring 22 points, grabbing four rebounds and dishing out three assists. Hours after Dwyane Wade learned he would only be tagged with a flagrant foul from Game 2 and not a suspension, he finished with 18 points, eight assists and four rebounds. Chris Bosh added 15 points and three rebounds and all five Miami starters reached double figures.

The move allowed Miami to outscore Indiana 56-32 in the paint…

Miami committed a playoff franchise-low one turnover in the first half and finished with only five. James finished with none.

The Heat shot 54.5 percent against a team that finished the regular season with the NBA’s best defensive field goal percentage and also made 24 of 28 free throws. They matched the highest scoring output in a quarter during this season’s playoffs with 34, broke the franchise playoff record for points in a half (70) and fell one point short of tying the third-highest point total in a playoff game in franchise history…

David West led Indiana with 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Roy Hibbert had 20 points and 17 rebounds. Paul George finished with 13 points and eight assists, not nearly enough to keep the Pacers perfect at home in the postseason…

Indiana opened the second half looking more like the team that had given Miami fits in Games 1 and 2. The Pacers hit back-to-back 3-pointers and got a three-point play from George Hill. When Lance Stephenson followed that with 1 of 2 free throws, the lead had been cut to 74-67.

It didn’t last.

Reported by Michael Marot of the Associated Press

“We were disappointed,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Sunday of dropping Friday’s game, “and that’s where you have to embrace the competition.”

Still, few could have foreseen the number the Heat put on the scoreboard at halftime: 70.

A team that had scored 84 total points in the first halves of the series first two games simply detonated in the first half.

Like Dwyane Wade’s dunk on Roy Hibbert in the second quarter.

Like Udonis Haslem’s first six shots, each putting points on the board.

Like Chris Andersen’s first three shots, which gave him 15 consecutive playoff conversions from the field (a streak he would extend to 16 in the second half on his 4-of-4 night).

Heck even Ray Allen hit a 3-pointer to end the second quarter and give the Heat a franchise record for points in any playoff half, his first points in three visits to Indiana this season, having missed his first 11 shots of the season at the Fieldhouse.

“What we talked about in the locker room,” Spoelstra said, “was tonight was a team win.”

Reported by Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Rob Pimental, Miami Heat equipment manager

Next time you’re struggling to squeeze your carry-on suitcase into the overhead bin, imagine what it’s like to be Rob Pimental, an experienced business traveler who shows up for flights with 2,500 pounds of luggage and 65 pairs of expensive shoes.

Pimental is the Heat’s head equipment manager, and packing the defending NBA champions for a road trip is no small task. He packs for a traveling party of 48, which includes some of the league’s most high-profile and pampered athletes.

It is his job to make sure every player has not only four full sets of uniforms — two black and two red — but also customized sneakers (four or five pairs per player), undergarments and socks of choice, headbands, wristbands, elbow and knee pads, ankle braces, mouth guards, practice gear and warmup suits. He also packs 12 basketballs for practice.

His office is a Heat fan’s dream closet — floor-to-ceiling shoe boxes filled with impossible-to-buy sneakers, racks of Heat jerseys and shelves filled with Heat gear in every size.

He spent 19 years with the Sacramento Kings and joined the Heat last season, so he has learned the art of packing. The key, he says, is keeping checklists. He has many of them. Mostly on his iPad, and he checks them three and four times before every trip.

Reported by Michelle Kaufman of the Miami Herald

NBA Playoffs: Miami Heat a team out of focus

This has been billed as the deepest, most talented Heat team in its 25-year history, a roster with so many capable and gifted pieces that MVP LeBron James would not need to be routinely overburdened.

Now would be a good time for those pieces to again validate that notion.

Face it: Excluding James and Chris Andersen, nobody on the Heat has been anything special in this 1-1 Eastern Conference finals against Indiana, which resumes with Game 3 on Sunday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

“LeBron may be a little tired — it’s hard carrying four people up and down the court,” TNT’s Charles Barkley cracked after the Pacers’ 97-93 win Friday night.

James leads the Heat in this series in points (33 per game), rebounds (9.0) and assists (6.5) and is tied for the lead in steals and blocks. Pacers forward David West conceded the Pacers’ focus has been “on those other guys. We knew LeBron was going to do what he does.”

Clearly, more is needed elsewhere, not only from the ensemble around the Big 3, but from two-thirds of the Big 3.

Reported by Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald

Supporting cast must step up for Miami Heat

The supporting cast has always raised issues for this team the past three seasons, but now Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade have entered the equation. Bosh and Wade have done little to assist James through two games, at least not the way they have in the past.

James has scored 66 points in the series, nearly equaling Bosh and Wade combined (67).

“We’re just doing what we can with our opportunities,” said Wade, who has taken 15 fewer shots than James in the two games. “We don’t have the ball every possession. We’re doing what we can with our opportunities. Hopefully, we get more.”

Wade meant that he and the others have to play more aggressively instead of leaving all the responsibility on the league’s most valuable player. Even though he had two costly turnovers in the final minute, James finished with 36 points, eight rebounds and three assists in the losing effort. In Game 1, he recorded a triple-double with 30 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, including the winning basket as time expired.

“You always want more [shots], but we can’t say nothing against LeBron,” Wade said. “He had a hell of a game [Friday]. If he’s not shooting, then other guys with opportunities better be making shots. Because if you make them, you can’t say nothing about anything.”

Reported by Shandel Richardson of the South Florida Sun Sentinel

NBA Playoffs: LeBron James and Paul George locked in battle

The Eastern Conference finals between the plucky Indiana Pacers and top-seeded Miami Heat is giving NBA fans a battle with all the hallmarks of a classic series, including a fierce duel between two red-hot players.

Miami’s LeBron James, the top player in the league today, was always going to be the key figure in the 2013 playoffs but Indiana’s Paul George has emerged as the young pretender to his crown with the best-of-seven series tied at 1-1.

Toward the end of Indiana’s 97-93 road win on Friday in which James carried a strangely misfiring Heat team with a game-high 36 points, the 23-year-old George delivered game-winning defense against the Heat star to add to his 22 points.

There were moments where the play between the two truly took on the nature of a duel, none more so than a wild sequence in the closing seconds of the third quarter.

Moments after George beat James en route to powering home a highlight-reel dunk, the league’s reigning Most Valuable Player, facing George, responded with a three-pointer to close the quarter and cut Indiana’s lead to 76-74.

James, 28, then slapped hands with George and, according to the Pacers forward, said: “I got you back young fella.”

Reported by Simon Evans of Reuters

NBA Playoffs: Pacers take Game 2 from Heat, 97-93

David West punched two passes from LeBron James away in the final minute, then punched the air.

He had plenty of reason to celebrate.

The Eastern Conference finals are tied, and home-court advantage now belongs to West and the Indiana Pacers.

Roy Hibbert scored a postseason career-high 29 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, West broke up two passes by James for huge turnovers, and the Pacers evened the East title series at a game apiece with a 97-93 victory over the Miami Heat in Game 2 on Friday night.

”We haven’t done anything yet,” Hibbert said. ”We haven’t closed the series out. We won one game. A lot of us feel we should be up 2-0.”

Paul George scored 22 points, George Hill added 18 and West finished with 13 for the Pacers, who handed the Heat just their fourth loss in their last 50 games, closed the game on a 13-5 run – and denied one of the game’s best playmakers in James twice in the final moments to finish it off…

With Indiana up 95-93, West intercepted a pass that James was throwing to Ray Allen with 43 seconds left. Indiana didn’t cash in that mistake, instead turning the ball over with a shot-clock violation.

So on the next Miami trip, West denied James – who led all scorers with 36 points – again…

The Heat got 17 points from Chris Bosh and 14 from Dwyane Wade. The Heat led 88-84 in the fourth quarter, only to let the lead, the game and the home-court edge slip away, and James had almost an expressionless look afterward…

Hibbert was creating one problem after another for Miami, so James took it upon himself to challenge him in the fourth. And with about 8 minutes left, he swatted a putback attempt away from the 7-foot-2 Indiana center, starting a play that ended with Chalmers scoring at the other end to give Miami an 85-84 lead…

The Pacers were called for four technicals (one a defensive 3-second) in a 4-minute span of the second quarter.

Reported by Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press

According to ESPN.com, “James had two turnovers in the game’s final minute, which is extremely unusual for him. This was the first postseason game in his career in which he had two turnovers in the game’s final 60 seconds. In 125 previous playoff games, James had turned the ball over only seven times in the final minute of the fourth quarter or overtime. Roy Hibbert was on the court when James drove into the lane and turned the ball over with eight seconds remaining. James has one basket and four turnovers on drives to the basket in which Hibbert is on the floor in these two games. When Hibbert is off the court, James has four baskets (on five shots) and no turnovers on drives to the hoop. James finished with three assists and five turnovers. The last time he had more turnovers than assists in a game was March 27 against the Chicago Bulls, a 101-97 loss that snapped the Heat’s 27-game winning streak.”

Roy Hibbert calls out Shane Battier for cheapshot

Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert is calling out Miami Heat forward Shane Battier for his dirty play.

Hibbert took exception to Battier’s shot to his groin area in the first half of Miami’s Game 1 victory Wednesday night.

“U can knee or kick me every time u drive 2the rim. I’ll be there 2protect the rim. That wasn’t inadvertent. Battier knew what he was doing,” Hibbert wrote on Twitter on this evening.

Reported by Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star

Chris Andersen doing a lot to help Miami Heat

The Heat’s record since Anderson came on board is an astounding 48-5. In the playoffs, a span of 10 games in which the Heat have lost just once, Anderson is 29-for-35 (82 percent) from the floor and averaging nearly eight points a game.

His line in Wednesday’s Eastern Conference finals Game 1 victory for the Heat: a perfect 7-for-7 shooting for a season-high 16 points in 18 minutes, along with five rebounds and five blocked shots.

“He’s playing as well as any center in the league,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said.

The performance wasn’t lost on the Miami fans, who’ve quickly developed an affection for the high-impact reserve. He’s become so beloved in just half a season that when he was subbed out in overtime of Game 1 for Shane Battier, boos echoed throughout American Airlines Arena.

Reported by Zak Keefer of the Indianapolis Star

Pacers, Heat bring playoffs to life with overtime thriller

The Indiana Pacers fell just short in the Eastern Conference finals opener but their gritty display pumped life into the NBA playoffs and let the defending champion Miami Heat know they have a battle on their hands.

The ease with which the top-seeded Heat have brushed aside opponents during the regular season and playoffs has given an air of inevitability to this year’s postseason, resulting in falling television ratings and plummeting interest.

But those hoping for tighter games with the chance of an upset would have been encouraged by the way the Pacers gave a timely warning to the Heat that they will need to draw on all their talent to reach a third straight final.

“It doesn’t matter if you win by one or if you win by 30 or whatever the case may be. You just want to win. We have to be better Friday if we want to win again,” LeBron James said after powering Miami to a 103-102 overtime victory on Wednesday.

Indiana have struggled on the road this year, losing 21 of 40 games in the regular season, but in a scrappy, foul-ridden game that came alive spectacularly in the closing stages, the Pacers showed their mettle.

Reported by Simon Evans of Reuters

NBA Playoffs: Pacers vs Heat Game 1 tonight

Dwyane Wade’s rookie season ended with a playoff loss to the Indiana Pacers. The next year, the Miami Heat were headed to the Eastern Conference finals and certain that an NBA championship was in their sights.

That’s when Wade learned a valuable lesson: Never take playoff chances for granted.

Wade hurt his rib cage on a simple crossover dribble during that 2005 East title series, and the Heat season ended with a Game 7 home loss to Detroit. He’s been to the East finals three times since, prevailing in them all, and on Wednesday will look to take a first step toward a fourth conference championship when the Heat play host to the Pacers in Game 1 of their playoff rematch from a year ago.

”I know I’m blessed to be going to the Eastern Conference finals for my fifth time,” Wade said. ”But I would like a lot more in my career. It’s a good thing. We’ve been very successful in my tenure here. But I want more.”

For Wade and Udonis Haslem, this marks five East finals appearances in nine years. For LeBron James, it’s a fifth trip to this round in the past seven years, now three straight with Miami after a pair of trips to the East finals with Cleveland. For Ray Allen, it’s a fourth East title-round trip in six years, the first three of those coming with Boston.

Experience, it all favors Miami.

For the Pacers, this is pretty much uncharted waters. Only one current Pacers player has ever appeared in a conference-final game, and that was backup big man Ian Mahinmi, who played exactly 71 seconds in one game of the 2011 West title series without so much as taking a shot. Nonetheless, the Pacers seem far from bothered by the fact that this stage is a new place for them.

— Reported by Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press