Heat 118, Pacers 83
LeBron James exploded for 33 points, 13 assists and eight rebounds as the shorthanded Miami Heat cruised past the visiting Indiana Pacers 118-83 Wednesday night.
With star guard Dwyane Wade out with a foot injury, Miami used a balanced scoring attack and suffocating defense to open up a 23-point halftime advantage.
Indiana used a 16-6 third-quarter stretch to trim the deficit to 12, but James - who remained in the game despite injuring his ankle in the quarter - scored five points during Miami's period-ending 11-1 run to give the Heat an 88-66 lead entering the fourth.
The Pacers didn't challenge the rest of the way, losing for the seventh time in their last eight meetings against the Heat.
Chris Bosh added 22 points for Miami while Mario Chalmers and James Jones poured in 14 apiece.
Roy Hibbert paced Indiana with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
The teams exchanged leads until late in the first quarter, when Norris Cole hit a jumper and James converted a three-point play to put Miami up 29-27.
Consecutive 3-pointers from Jones made it a seven-point Heat advantage, and he added a third 3 near the midway point of the second quarter to put Miami up by double digits. Indiana's dreadful shooting didn't help matters, as the Pacers made just one field goal in the entire quarter to fall behind 62-39 at the break.