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Pacers pound glass, beat Heat

Nov 13, 2014 - 5:52 AM Miami, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - The Indiana Pacers pounded the glass against their nemesis of the last three seasons to exact just a tad of revenge.

Chris Copeland's layup with 42.8 seconds remaining gave the Pacers a late lead and they sunk their foul shots in the closing moments to hang on for an 81-75 victory over the Miami Heat on Wednesday night.

Indiana, which had fallen to Miami in the past three playoffs, including the last two Eastern Conference finals, outrebounded Miami 53-28, held a 16-6 advantage on the offensive glass and posted a 19-8 spread in second chance points.

Following Copeland's powerful take to the basket, Mario Chalmers was called for an offensive foul. Donald Sloan and Roy Hibbert then sunk a pair of foul shots each to seal the outcome.

"We just battled as hard as we could," said Pacers head coach Frank Vogel. "I think they just had an off night, and our guys competed their tails off."

Without a departed LeBron James and an injured Paul George, this one obviously had a different feel than those three prior playoff showdowns. Indiana starters David West and George Hill have yet to take the floor this season and Lance Stephenson left for Charlotte during the offseason.

Hibbert tallied 16 points and 15 rebounds, Copeland netted 17 and Sloan added 15 points and six boards for the Pacers, who have won two straight on the heels of a six-game losing streak.

It was Indiana's first road win of the season.

Dwyane Wade had 20 points and Shawne Williams hit four 3-pointers en route to 15 points for Miami, which has dropped three of its last five since beginning the year 3-0.

"We're going to learn from our mistakes. This was a bad one," Miami's Chris Bosh said.

Ian Mahinmi's three-point play staked the Pacers to a 72-65 advantage with 7:04 to play, but they went the next 5:24 without a point as a 7-0 Miami flurry tied the game.

A Chalmers layup knotted the contest with 4:23 left, but neither team scored again until Sloan rattled home a left wing triple. Wade answered with a trey at the other end to tie the game at 75-75.

Miami led 26-24 following a quarter of play and took a 42-41 edge into the break.

It remained a nip-and-tuck affair in the third, with neither team leading by more than four points until a Copeland three in the final minute helped give Indiana a 63-58 margin heading into the fourth.

After Wade recorded his first bucket since the 4:35 mark of the first with 8:08 to play, Lavoy Allen hit two free throws prior to Mahinmi's three-point play for Indiana's seven-point spread.

Game Notes

Hibbert has made 20 consecutive foul shots ... Indiana shot just 37.5 percent (30-of-80) from the floor, but was 13-of-15 from the charity stripe ... Miami scored 16 points off 16 Indiana turnovers.