Heat just a win away from NBA Final Four

MIAMI — LeBron James scored 30 points and Dwyane Wade added 28 as the Miami Heat moved a win away from the NBA’s final four with a 115-83 victory over the Indiana Pacers yesterday.

The Heat lead the Eastern Conference best-of-seven semifinals 3-2, with Game 6 in Indiana on Thursday.

“This is our challenge right now, to leave it behind us,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “A lot of good things tonight, but we have to focus on the next one.”

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, held a 22-2 edge in fast-break points and shot a franchise playoff-record 61 percent — best of any team in the playoffs this season.

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. X-rays on Granger were negative, and he’s listed as day-to-day.

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.

“We learned early in this series, you don’t get two wins for a blowout,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said.

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.

“Shane came out very aggressive,” Wade said. “When the ball starts going down for him, you know it’s a great day because it keeps the floor spread.”

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.  /AP