NBA playoffs: Miami Heat takes 3-2 series lead over Indiana Pacers

August 23, 2024

MIAMI — There will be no win-or-else Game 6 in the Eastern Conference finals for the Miami Heat this season. LeBron James saw to that, and now the reigning champions are one victory from a third straight trip to the NBA Finals.

James finished with 30 points, eight rebounds and six assists, Udonis Haslem made his last eight shots on the way to a 16-point night, and the Heat used a dominant third quarter to turn things around and beat the Indiana Pacers, 90-79, in Game 5 on Thursday.

Mario Chalmers scored 12 points and Dwyane Wade added 10 for the Heat, which lead the series 3-2 and will look to close it out at Indiana on Saturday night. The Heat ousted the Pacers in six games in a second-round matchup last season.

Paul George had 27 points and 11 rebounds for the Pacers, who got 22 points from Roy Hibbert and 17 from David West. The Pacers led by seven at one point, but had no answer for the Heat in the third, getting outscored 30-13 in the period, including 21-6 in the final seven minutes.

James and Haslem combined for 26 points in the third, and were simply too much. Haslem’s first shot of the night hit the side of the backboard. He didn’t miss again, going 8 for 8 and sealing it with a jumper with 1 minute 51 seconds left — 12 seconds before drawing an offensive foul against Lance Stephenson, the sixth for the Pacers’ guard, who finished with just four points.

A year ago, the Heat lost Game 5 of the East finals to Boston, and needed a 45-point game from James in Game 6 just to extend their season. Not this time.

The Finals — and a date with San Antonio — is now one win away.

“That’s what I came here for, to be able to compete for a championship each and every year,” James said. “I’m one step away from doing it once again. It’s not promised. It’s not promised at all. I made a tough decision. Obviously, I think we all know the story. I envisioned something that was bigger as far as a team ... and we’ve got an opportunity as a team, once again, for the third year straight to make a trip to the NBA Finals.”

Indiana was blown out in Game 5 of a tied-up series at Miami last season, never holding the lead and losing by 32 points. This one took a much different tone from the outset, with the Pacers running out to a 15-9 lead that could have been worse for Miami given that West and Hibbert combined to miss three easy layups in the opening minutes.

George and Hibbert combined for all of Indiana’s 23 points in the first quarter. Indiana’s lead was four after the first quarter, and when the second began, the reminders that these teams simply do not like each other started coming fast and furious.

Chris Andersen and Tyler Hansbrough needed to be separated early in the second, and both got technicals after Andersen appeared to hit Hansbrough twice, first with a shoulder and then with a two-hand shove. Andersen also picked up a flagrant-1 for his efforts, things cooled off a bit for the rest of the half, and Indiana went into the break up 44-40.

The Pacers then scored the first basket of the third. After that, it was all Heat.

"It's the playoffs," Wade said. "Shane Battier said this is when you feel alive, when your back's against the wall. ... You've got to go out there and play. This is what we prepared for all season."

If nothing else, that season won’t end this week, not after what the Heat did in the third quarter.

Haslem got past Hibbert easily and into the lane for a dunk that put Miami up 47-46, the first Heat lead since 4-2. The Pacers were back on top by a point with 6:58 left in the third when fighting words reappeared, on a play where George Hill was called for an offensive foul after getting caught pushing off on a drive. West angrily approached Chalmers after the play and both of those players, along with Haslem, got technicals when it was all said and done.

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