Pacers 91, Heat 77
INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana Pacers stayed alive in the Eastern Conference finals with a 91-77 win over the Miami Heat on Saturday night.
The series will return to south Florida for a decisive Game 7 on Monday night.
Paul George scored 28 points and Roy Hibbert added 24 and 11 rebounds as Indiana survived a furious Miami rally midway through the second half and pulled away in the final five minutes.
LeBron James led the Heat with 29 points, seven rebounds and six assists but was mostly a one-man show as Miami endured a brutal offensive performance. The Heat shot 36.1 percent from the field and scored just 37 points in the second half.
Indiana dominated the glass 53-32, including a 26-9 margin after halftime. The Pacers shot 50 percent from the field and survived 21 turnovers to extend their season.
Indiana used a timeout with the Heat on a 7-0 run to draw within 68-58 early in the fourth quarter. Miami eventually closed to 72-68 before George made a wide-open 3-pointer from the left wing to siphon some of the Heat's momentum.
As in Game 5, the outcome turned on a third-quarter run. This time, it was the Pacers who opened a nice gap, using a 14-2 spurt coming out of the locker room to take a double-digit lead and then pushing ahead by as many as 17 late in the quarter. Miami trailed 68-55 entering the fourth after making 4 of 16 shots from the field and committing six turnovers in a disastrous third.
Hot shooting from outside spurred Miami to a 40-39 halftime lead, as the Heat made 7 of 9 3-point shots. James scored 14 in the first half and received a needed boost from the bench. Norris Cole had nine points and Ray Allen added five. Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, each playing through a painful leg injury, combined for just four points on 1-of-10 shooting from the field before the break.
Back-to-back 3s from Sam Young and George Hill sent the Pacers on a 10-0 run to take their largest lead of the first half at 31-25. The Heat responded immediately with a 9-2 burst. All nine points came from reserve guards Cole and Allen. The Pacers, who trailed 23-21 after one quarter, took eight free throws to Miami's one in the first half.
NOTES: The last Eastern Conference coach to reach the NBA Finals in three consecutive seasons was Phil Jackson with the Bulls from 1995 to 1997. ... Indiana entered Saturday outscoring opponents by an average of just 0.7 points per game in the playoffs, yet had only played one game that was decided by three points or less. Eleven of the Pacers' first 17 postseason games were decided by 10 points or more. ... Indiana's Lance Stephenson was issued a technical foul with 4:01 left in the first quarter, the 10th technical of the series. He seemed to brush against James to draw the 'T'.
