• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Pacers escape Miami with series tied

May 16, 2012 - 3:13 AM Miami, FL (Sports Network) - With the game on the line, All-Stars LeBron James or Dwyane Wade didn't take the final shot for Miami, and Indiana held on to even their Eastern Conference semifinal series after two games.

David West scored 16 points and George Hill added 15, including a big free throw with 14.1 seconds left, as the Pacers earned a 78-75 victory Tuesday night.

Roy Hibbert made 1-of-2 free throws with 32 seconds left to give the Pacers a 77-75 lead. Wade then spun around Hill to the left, but a layup attempt came up short with under 17 seconds to go.

"I was kind of falling a little bit," Wade said. "With a little contact, I just got a little too far to the rim."

With 14.1 seconds left, Hill made his first attempt from the charity stripe at the other end, but the second clanked off the rim and the ball was deflected to the other end of the court. Hill tried to save the ball, but stepped on the end line, giving Miami possession with 8.3 seconds to go.

A three-point try from Mario Chalmers hit off the rim and time expired.

James had 28 points and Wade scored 24 for the shorthanded Heat, who shot just 34.6 percent and were outscored 28-14 in the third quarter.

The Heat captured the opener on Sunday with a 95-86 triumph, but lost forward Chris Bosh to a lower abdominal strain. Miami will likely not have Bosh back for the remainder of this series.

"We have to do a better job of getting our guys in a rhythm so they can contribute," James said. "We need everyone."

Game 3 of the best-of-seven series will be in Indianapolis on Thursday.

"We can't get too excited because we won one game," West said. "That's not our goal in this series. We can't overreact because we were able to get one game down here."

It was a case of poor shooting for the Heat, who went 1-of-16 from three-point range and also missed half of their 10 free throws in the final quarter. That included a 4-of-8 performance from James in the last 12 minutes.

"We had our opportunities, obviously we did not shoot the ball very well," Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. "We still put ourselves in a position to win there at the end. We couldn't get quite over the hump."

A layup from Leandro Barbosa gave Indiana the lead for good at 73-72 with 3:55 left, but Miami sure had its chances to take a stranglehold in the series.

The Heat missed their final six field goal attempts and James, the newly- crowned MVP, failed on two foul shots with 54.3 seconds left.

The Pacers, who finished with a 50-40 edge on the glass, crashed the boards to create extra opportunities in the closing minute. After Hill's layup and West's tip try both missed, the ball was tapped back to Barbosa, who drove to the basket before dishing to Hibbert, who was hammered under the hoop to set up the dramatic finish.

Hill's layup extended Indiana's lead to 16-9 midway through the opening quarter, but the Heat came back with a huge 12-1 spurt to end the period. James, who scored 10 in the stanza, made a pair of free throws with 6.8 seconds left for a 21-17 difference after 12 minutes.

The Pacers finally broke their field goal drought on a tip-in from Louis Amundson in the opening moments of the second. The Heat pushed their lead to as many as nine later in the quarter at 33-24 when Wade spun around Paul George and drove in for a dunk with under four minutes left.

Indiana surged right back with nine straight points, capped by George's tying layup with 1:36 to go. Shane Battier countered with a three and James hit a pull-up jumper with 12 seconds left for the 38-33 halftime margin.

The third quarter was horrendous for the Heat, who were 3-of-17 from the field. Indiana's tenacious defense, combined with good ball control and 10-of-18 shooting, helped the visitors move ahead.

Udonis Haslem's layup moved the Heat to a 46-41 lead with 7:21 to go, but the Pacers then scored 12 in a row. George tied the game with a three and gave his team the lead by pilfering a poor pass from Wade and racing in for a dunk. West finally capped the rally by making 1-of-2 free throws with 3:15 remaining.

When Barbosa drove in for a layup with under a minute left, the Pacers had their largest lead at 61-50. James then canned a short jumper to end the quarter's scoring.

"We knew that if we came into this place and limited their transition buckets and their offensive rebounds, then we'd be all right," Hibbert said. "Everyone did a great job. We got some fast-break points."

There was some physical play that led to technical fouls and a flagrant foul call in the final quarter. Wade pushed Darren Collison in the back during an Indiana fast-break chance and was given a flagrant foul. James and Danny Granger exchanged words and were each given a technical with 7:25 left in the game, this after the three-time MVP scored a layup.

Game Notes

George had 10 points and 11 rebounds, while West also had 10 boards...Granger scored 11 for the Pacers, but fouled out late in the final quarter...Hibbert had 11 rebounds...Miami missed nine of its 29 foul shots...Indiana made 37.8 percent of its field goal attempts...The Heat had won 13 straight at home in the postseason vs. Eastern Conference opponents.