Wade cranks up Heat in win over Pacers
MIAMI – Not even the NBA’s top team could win in Miami.
Rookie Dwyane Wade scored 25 points, including 14 in the fourth quarter, and the Heat beat Indiana 94-87 Monday night and handed the Pacers their first loss of the postseason.
Lamar Odom added 16 points and nine rebounds for the Heat, who extended their home winning streak to 17 games and now trail the best-of-7 series 2-1.
Game 4 is Wednesday night in Miami, where the Heat haven’t lost since March 2.
The home-court advantage helped Miami beat the Pacers for the first time in 12 tries.
“Our guys really feed off the electricity and energy in this building,” Heat coach Stan Van Gundy said. “They not only feed off the fans, but they want to perform for them. If I could bottle it up and take it on the road with us I would.”
The Pacers kept it close thanks to nine 3-pointers, including four in the fourth quarter.
The Heat used a 7-0 run to take a 79-72 lead with 2:55 to play. Wade hit a pull-up jumper at the foul line, then dunked over Jermaine O’Neal. He sliced down the lane, took a pass from Odom and jumped over one of the league’s best defenders.
Caron Butler hit two free throws, and Odom added another to cap the Heat’s run. They got plenty of help from the Pacers, who made just one of their first 11 shots in the fourth.
Indiana went without a field goal until the 6:20 mark of the fourth. Then made just one more field goal until the final minute of the game.
The Pacers cut the lead to 91-87 on a 3-pointer by Reggie Miller with 21.7 seconds remaining. Odom then missed two free throws, but got his own rebound to prevent a frantic finish. He made 1 of 2 from the line after a foul to put it away.
“We’re going to have to play much better to beat this team here,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said.
Despite the victory, the Heat still face a tough task in the series. Of the 173 previous best-of-7 series to begin 2-0, the trailing team has come back to win the series just seven times.
The Pacers, who had the best record in the NBA during the regular season, had been 6-0 in the postseason. They also set an NBA record by winning all six by double digits.
Although the Heat held Ron Artest to 14 points, O’Neal found his shooting touch that had been missing in the first two games. He scored 29 points on 9-of-21 shooting after being held to 31 percent from the floor in the first two games by defensive-minded Brian Grant.
Van Gundy switched up his usual rotation, using Malik Allen off the bench in place of Udonis Haslem in hopes of getting more offense. It worked. Allen played 18 minutes in the first half and scored 10 points – all in the second quarter.