Pacers pound Heat to grab series lead
Indianapolis — The Indiana Pacers showed more balance, toughness and togetherness than Miami, throttling the Heat 94-75 on Thursday to take a 2-1 series lead in the NBA Eastern Conference semifinals.
Roy Hibbert had 19 points and 18 rebounds, George Hill scored 20 and Danny Granger 17 for the Pacers, who were often overlooked during the regular season and given little chance to upset the reigning East champions.
Miami’s LeBron James scored 22 — 16 in the first half before wearing down — and Mario Chalmers added 25 for the visitors. However, Dwyane Wade scored only 5 on 2-of-13 shooting for the Heat, already missing forward Chris Bosh because of a strained abdominal muscle and not expected to return for this series.
Indiana outscored Miami 51-32 in the second half, when the Pacers could do no wrong.
They made big shots, challenged everything the Heat tossed in the air and didn’t back down from a Miami team that had appeared certain to make an easy run to the NBA finals after top-seeded Chicago lost Derrick Rose and was eliminated in the first round.
The Pacers, though, are proving to be a higher hurdle than expected.
In the second half, Indiana forward David West flung James to the floor in the lane, and Granger later got in the superstar’s face after a foul on a breakaway. After winning Game 2 in South Florida by three points, the Pacers wanted to show they’re for real.
With his team down 20 in the closing minutes, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra waved the white flag and pulled out first Wade, then James, who quickly removed his headband as he got to the bench and then pulled out the mouthpiece inscripted with XVI — the Roman numeral for 16 — or the number of wins it takes to get a championship.
Indiana broke the game open with a 17-3 run in the third quarter, doing it with an inside-outside attack that had the Heat wondering what was coming next. The Pacers pushed their lead to 69-55 after three and then held off one brief run by the Heat in the fourth quarter.
Spurs 105, Clippers 88
In San Antonio, Tony Parker scored 22 points on his 30th birthday, leading San Antonio over fading Los Angeles and to a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinal series.
Veteran Tim Duncan had 18 for San Antonio, which has won 16 straight games and will travel to L.A. for Game 3 on Saturday.
Clippers star Chris Paul responded to his awful Game 1 with only a slightly better encore, scoring just 10 points.
Blake Griffin led Los Angeles with 20 points. His plan to manage his ailing knee so he would have enough steam for the fourth quarter proved moot, as both teams emptied their benches with another Spurs blowout assured.
The All-Star matchup of Paul vs. Parker went from a Game 1 bust to a lopsided mismatch. Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro says his star is still struggling with an aching hip and groin, even as Paul insists he’s OK.
He again looked anything but. While Parker celebrated his birthday by more than tripling his seven points and dreadful 1-for-9 shooting in Game 1, Paul shot 4 of 9 and had just five assists. /ap
