MIAMI (AP) ― Miami took a big step forward. Indiana lost two forwards.
Suddenly, the road back to the Eastern Conference finals no longer looks daunting for the Heat.
LeBron James scored 30 points, Dwyane Wade added 28, and the Heat moved a win away from the NBA’s final four with a 115-83 victory over the hurting Pacers on Tuesday night.
The Heat lead the best-of-seven East semifinals 3-2, with Game 6 in Indiana on Thursday night.
James added 10 rebounds and eight assists. Shane Battier scored 13 points, Mario Chalmers had eight points and 11 rebounds, and Udonis Haslem finished with 10 points for Miami, which never trailed.
Paul George scored 11 points for Indiana, with starting forwards Danny Granger and David West adding 10 points apiece. Granger left with a sprained left ankle in the third quarter, and West left with what the Pacers called a left knee sprain at the end of that period.
Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade drives on Indiana Pacers guard George Hill in the third quarter on Tuesday. (MCT)
Miami shot a franchise playoff-record 61 percent, best of any team in the playoffs this season. It was an 11-point game when Granger departed early in the third quarter, and the Heat outscored the Pacers by 21 the rest of the way.
After losing two of the first three games of the series, the Heat are in control once again ― getting there after a wire-to-wire win Tuesday, with just one time where things seemed in some doubt.
The margin was as big as 37 points in the final moments.
Miami, which had gotten into quick deficits in each of the first four games, was the team that started hot in Game 5, running out to a 19-8 lead on the strength of three 3-pointers from Battier ― who had been 2 for 19 from the field in the first four games of the series. Battier left his mark in many ways, even stopping a 3-on-1 Indiana break to set up a score by Wade at the other end.
But much like the Heat did in Game 4 when Indiana threatened to turn things into an early runaway, the Pacers settled down in a hurry.
The Pacers made Wade see blood early on, a couple of early flagrant fouls reminding everyone that these teams don’t seem to like each other much.
Tyler Hansbrough struck first, hitting Wade on a play where the 2006 NBA finals MVP wound up with a cut over his right eye, similar to what Haslem received at Indiana in Game 4. So Haslem retaliated against Hansbrough not long afterward, earning a flagrant-1 foul that left the Pacers saying it should merit a flagrant-2 and automatic ejection.
Even after facing the big deficit, Indiana even had two shots to tie or take the lead late in the first half, the second of those a 3-point try from Granger with 3:03 remaining.
Thunder face best
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) ― The Oklahoma City Thunder haven’t found any shortcuts as they try to climb to the top of the Western Conference.
The Thunder’s path through the postseason lined up so their first three opponents have been the only three teams to win the West since 1998.
It started with the Dallas Mavericks, who were trying to defend their NBA title. Next up was the Los Angeles Lakers, who have won five championships since 2000. In the Western Conference finals, the Thunder will now face the four-time champion San Antonio Spurs.
If the franchise can reach the NBA finals for the first time since losing to Michael Jordan’s Bulls in 1996 as the Seattle SuperSonics, it will be after getting through the cream of the crop out West.
“You go over the last few years, and it’s been the usual suspects at the top and it’s been that way for a reason,” Lakers star Kobe Bryant said, pondering how L.A. could get back to the top after getting eliminated by the Thunder.
Oklahoma City is well on its way to cementing a spot among the West’s elite, improving each season since winning only 23 games after relocating from Seattle in 2008.
“We’re not thinking about the history of the last Western Conference champions,” said Oklahoma City backup center Nazr Mohammed, himself a veteran of the Spurs’ 2005 championship team.
“All we’re thinking about is San Antonio and what needs to be done.”
The series starts Sunday night in San Antonio, with both teams getting the better part of a week of down time to prepare. Both teams took Tuesday off after Oklahoma City finished off a five-game series against the Lakers with a 106-90 victory on Monday night.
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
