Heat Rises At Home For Win

Wade's 25 Points Help Cut Pacers' Lead to 2-1: Heat 94, Pacers 87

MIAMI, May 10 -- The Indiana Pacers hadn't lost a game in the playoffs before Monday night. The Miami Heat, meantime, hadn't beaten the Pacers in any game in two years. Given the apparent extent of the mismatch, south Florida's newspapers were filled with obituaries for the overachieving team that, it seemed, was fast approaching the end of its surprisingly successful season.

But Miami, down 2-0 in this Eastern Conference semifinal series, had this on its side in Monday's Game 3: The Heat was home.

Miami took advantage -- as usual -- winning its 17th straight game at American Airlines Arena, a 94-87 victory over Indiana. And the Heat players have this to look forward to: They have a chance to even the series Wednesday in Miami.

"It's a great atmosphere," Heat Coach Stan Van Gundy said. "I've said all along that it's really tremendous how this arena has been transformed to one of the best arenas in the NBA. Our guys not only feed off the fans, they want to perform for them."

Miami survived a late run by Indiana largely thanks to rookie Dwyane Wade, who has played like an experienced veteran throughout the playoffs, routinely rallying his team late. On Monday, Wade scored 25 points, including 11 of 12 from the foul line, countering 29 points from Indiana's Jermaine O'Neal and 16 from Jamaal Tinsley.

As Miami's Caron Butler helped shackle Ron Artest (4-for-18 shooting for 14 points), Wade led the Heat back in front after Indiana, down by four at the half, retook the lead early in the fourth quarter.

Wade refused to let the Heat lose.

"That's a bunch of guys with a lot of heart," Wade said. "No matter what the score is, we continue to fight, continue to play. . . . We hit them when it counted."

A barrage of fouls and turnovers gave Indiana the inch it had been waiting for at the start of the final period, momentarily sapping the life out of the Heat and its 20,115 rabid fans. On the strength of nine straight free throws, six by O'Neal, the Pacers reclaimed the lead with 6 minutes 52 seconds left, 69-68. The Heat, however, wasn't dead just yet.

Not with Wade just warming up.

Wade had played a mediocre three quarters, scoring 11 points. But as the Heat was jockeying for the lead, Wade hit a pair of jumpers, keeping the seesaw bouncing back. And with just less than five minutes remaining, Wade went streaking through the lane with a feed from Lamar Odom and jammed forcefully over O'Neal, a basket that seemed to be a turning point.

"Dwyane has very little fear for a rookie," Van Gundy said. "I said to him the other day, if they go back and do rookie of the year voting after the playoffs it might change a little bit."

Wade finished third behind LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony.

The dunk put the Heat up by four and the lead grew to 10 with 1:43 left. Reggie Miller, who scored just four points and took only two shots, put his stamp on the night with one of his trademark fadeaway three-pointers to close the lead to 91-87. (Said Van Gundy, "If Reggie Miller is even in the building and gets a shot off at the end of the game then it is going in.")

But the Heat held on. The Pacers were hurt by Miller's lack of involvement and their poor second-half free throw shooting (21 of 32, 65.6 percent).

"When you get easy opportunities or layups or wide-open shots, those are the ones you've got to make them pay with," Miller said.

Indiana got the best of a ragged first quarter, taking a 20-14 lead behind eight points by O'Neal. But the Heat, which never led in the first period, dominated the second period thanks to hot shooting from its unheralded reserves. Rafer Alston and Malik Allen each hit a pair of shots as the Heat made four straight to start the quarter, turning a six-point deficit into a lead Miami clung to throughout the half.

Allen, who scored just 13 points in the first two games of the series combined, scored 10 in fewer than 15 minutes, making five shots without a miss. Meantime, Odom added a pair of spectacular jams, and Alston scored five points as the Heat connected on 61 percent of its shots to outscore the Pacers 25-15.

"They finally," Artest said, "came to play."