Heat at Pacers
The Miami Heat are on the verge of a fourth consecutive trip to the NBA Finals while the Indiana Pacers are one loss away from a long summer of figuring out what went wrong. The Heat will look to close out the Eastern Conference finals when they visit the Pacers for Game 5 on Wednesday. Indiana took Game 1 of the series but has dropped three straight and never looked like it had a chance as Miami cruised through Game 4 on Monday.
The Pacers have never won a series in which they trailed 3-1 but are not giving up on reversing that history. “Our guys believe in what we do, and we know that,” coach Frank Vogel told reporters. “Once we lost Game 2, we need to win one time (in Miami) and then take care of homecourt. So we had three opportunities to do that. We didn’t do it in Game 3 and 4. I believe they’re strong, and we’ll go back and get Game 5 and then come back and fight Game 6.” LeBron James and the Heat realize that Indiana is not going to go down easy. “It’s going to take a better game than we had (Monday),” James told reporters. “It’s that simple.”
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN
ABOUT THE HEAT: Miami got a big lift on Monday from center Chris Bosh, who hit his first four shots and ended up with a postseason-high 25 points. “Well, certainly it’s much more how we wanted to play, and the start helped,” coach Eric Spoelstra told reporters. “We came out with a tremendous amount of energy and that was on both ends of the court.” James took care of things in the second half as the Heat cruised. Miami has never let a 3-1 lead slip away in the “Big Three” era and doesn’t intend to let up. “You have to get better every game,” James said. “Their back is against the wall, but we have to go in with that mindset that our back is against the wall, too.”
ABOUT THE PACERS: Guard Lance Stephenson made headlines when he talked about James showing weakness by responding to trash talk prior to Game 4 but had a difficult time backing up his comments. Stephenson was held to one point in the first three quarters and did not record a field goal until the game was out of hand midway through the fourth. Stephenson wasn’t the only starter struggling, as Roy Hibbert went scoreless and had trouble chasing Bosh around the perimeter in the first half. Both Paul George and David West questioned the officiating after Game 4 but guard George Hill was ready to turn the page. “I think this is when we are at out best, when our backs are against the wall,” Hill told reporters.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Miami G Ray Allen (hip) and F Chris Andersen (thigh) are both questionable for Game 5.
2. Pacers F Luis Scola scored 12 points in Game 4, matching his total from the first three games.
3. Indiana was outscored by 19 points at the free-throw line in Game 4.