The Miami Heat defeated the Indiana Pacers on Sunday night in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals on the road 114-96 to take a 2-1 series lead and now the team is poised to make it to the championship against the San Antonio Spurs, who are up 3-0 against the Memphis Grizzlies out West after winning Game 3 in overtime.
The games on Sunday had star power on the court with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, but the stands also had plenty of it, as former vice presidential candidate and scholar Sarah Palin was at the game, as was 49ers and Steelers head coaches Jim Harbaugh and Mike Tomlin, as well as Indiana Hoosiers head coach Tom Crean. The game was an exciting one for Miami Heat fans, as the team is now in control of the series and took back home court advantage after losing Game 2 at home in Florida. Miami hadn't won in Indiana all season and went just 1-2 against the Heat during the regular season before winning.
James led the team in scoring again with 22 points and the Pacers couldn't keep up with Miami's scoring in the second half and after taking a 10 point second quarter lead, Miami ended up going up 70-56 at halftime, which was the team's best performance since scoring 68 points against Chicago in 2006. Roy Hibbert did his best against Miami, scoring 20 points with 17 rebounds, but it wasn't enough to win. David West was tops for the Pacers with 21 points and now the team is 6-1 at home after dropping its first game in Indiana. After falling behind, Indiana could only cut the lead to seven and gave up way too many points based on how they played during the season.
The Heat got 18 points from Wade and 17 from Udonis Haslem, while Chris Andersen had nine rebounds to lead the team. Miami shot over 50 percent from the field and missed just four field goals during the game to get the win, while they also had their highest scoring quarter of the playoffs and the team just had one turnover in the first. Miami needed a blowout after dealing with two close games, including when LeBron James scored the game winning layup as time expired in the first game. Indiana got as close to 101-87 in the fourth, but that was as close as they could get.