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Another big night for LeBron lifts Heat over Pacers

Feb 9, 2011 - 5:18 AM Miami, FL (Sports Network) - LeBron James finished with 41 points, 13 rebounds, and eight assists, as the Miami Heat pulled off a 117-112 comeback victory against the Indiana Pacers.

The Heat trailed by double digits in the third quarter and by nine early in the fourth, but limited the Pacers to 15 points in the final period.

"We held a very dangerous offensive team to 15 points," said Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra. "That's a good basketball team, and they're playing with a lot of confidence right now."

Dwyane Wade and James made consecutive jumpers with under three minutes left to put Miami up by four, and the Heat held on for their seventh consecutive win.

Chris Bosh ended with 19 points and seven rebounds, while Wade added 17 points and seven assists for the Heat. James' performance came five days after he scored 51 in a victory against Orlando.

Roy Hibbert had 20 points and 10 boards to lead the Pacers, who had won four in a row since Frank Vogel was named interim head coach in the wake of Jim O'Brien's firing.

Indiana led by as many as 14 in the first half before Miami got within 66-63 at the break. The Heat stayed close at the start of the third quarter, but the Pacers re-built their double-digit advantage with a nine-point run.

Josh McRoberts' dunk with 5:43 left in the frame ended the burst and gave Indiana an 87-76 lead. The Pacers were ahead by as many as 13 in the quarter.

However, Miami scored seven of the final nine points of the frame to get within 97-90 moving to the fourth. Though the Heat were down by nine early in the final quarter, they went on a 14-4 run that spanned about six minutes. Erick Dampier's dunk with 4:34 left ended the burst and gave Miami a 106-105 edge.

Hibbert followed by making 1-of-2 free throws before both teams were unsuccessful on multiple possessions. The jumpers from Wade and James, though, broke the tie and had the Heat up 110-106 with 2:07 left.

The Pacers stayed close, and drew within 111-110 on Danny Granger's layup with 51.9 seconds on the clock.

However, the Heat drained time off the clock on their ensuing possession before Mike Miller missed a three-pointer. Bosh grabbed the rebound, allowing Miami to drain more time before James drilled a mid-range jumper with 14.1 ticks left.

Indiana countered with a quick inbound play. Mike Dunleavy fed the pass directly to McRoberts for an alley-oop layup that took less than one second off the clock and got the Pacers within 113-112.

But after James made two free throws with 8.9 seconds left to restore Miami's three-point cushion, the Heat stifled Indiana's inbound play from half-court. The five-second violation gave the ball to Miami, and Eddie House sank two from the foul line to secure the win.

"They really picked it up," Granger said of the Heat defense. "It is a credit to them. We pretty much had the game all the way up until five minutes left in the fourth."

Game Notes

The game featured 12 lead changes and eight ties...Granger finished with 19 points, while Tyler Hansbrough scored 18 off the Pacers' bench...Miami shot 53 percent, while Indiana made 51.2 percent of its shots...The Pacers won the first meeting between the teams this season, a 93-77 victory in Miami on November 22.