Heat-Pacers Preview

By TOM WITHERS
Posted May 19 2012 6:47PM

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Refreshed in body and spirit, the Miami Heat returned to practice reunited and refocused.

There was no looking back. No heartfelt apologies given. No need for a detailed autopsy of Dwyane Wade's ugly sideline exchange with coach Eric Spoelstra in Game 3.

What's done is done. All that's for another day. Right now, it's time to save the season.

"We move on," Wade said.

Down 2-1 in the Eastern Conference semifinals to the ready-to-rumble Indiana Pacers, the Heat were back on the floor Saturday after staying away from Bankers Life Fieldhouse for a day to decompress following their stunning 94-75 loss, a defeat amplified by the clash between Wade and Spoelstra during a timeout in the third quarter.

On Friday, Wade drove to Bloomington, Ind., and visited Indiana coach Tom Crean, his college coach for three years at Marquette. LeBron James went to the movies, catching "The Dictator." Spoelstra joked that he locked away the keys to the team bus so players couldn't get to the arena.

"We wanted to get away," Spoelstra said as his team prepared for Sunday's Game 4.

Wade, who scored just five points on 2-of-13 shooting and had five turnovers in Thursday's blowout, insists that any apparent problems with Spoelstra were overblown. He downplayed their fiery spat.

"Things happen," said Wade, who refused to acknowledge his quarrel with Spoelstra following the game. "In a perfect world a lot of things would go differently, but it's not a perfect world. A lot of stuff in our game is in the heat of the battle, emotional-type things. When something happens, it happens and we move on as a team.

"Me and coach have been together for nine years in some capacity. We've had many different conversations, some like that and some not. It wasn't the first, it won't the last. We know how to move on from things and we know each other wants the best for each other."

"There's no harm done. We're a family."

Spoelstra knows the dispute didn't look good to the outside world, but it's just part of professional sports.

"Your communication sometimes is not for everybody's living room, but it's normal in our living room," he said. "We've moved well beyond that. Dwyane and I have been together for a long time, nine or 10 years. That's the least of our concerns the last two days."

With an aggressive approach on both ends of the floor, the Pacers have won the past two games to put the Heat in an unforeseen hole and place their title hopes in serious danger. A win on Sunday would put Indiana up 3-1 and send the panic meter to code red in south Florida.

James, though, believes the Heat can even the series.

"We're a confident bunch," the MVP said. "We've got a veteran ballclub. We didn't play well in Game 3, so we have an opportunity to go out and make amends and try to bring it back to our house with the series tied 2-2."

The Pacers expect Wade to be back on his game Sunday. Although he's struggling with leg issues, Wade is still one of the game's top players and has the ability to score in bunches. So his players wouldn't forget how dangerous Wade can be, Indiana coach Frank Vogel gave them some video reminders before practice.

"We showed clips of him torching us in previous games, making shots that he's been missing in this series," Vogel said. "Dwyane Wade has not been the normal Dwyane Wade we're all used to seeing. We understand the threats that are there and I've made sure they leave here understanding that this team can beat us."

The most intense matchup in this series has been between James and Indiana's Danny Granger, who has not shied away from being physical with Miami's superstar.

Granger and James have had altercations in the past two games, with their teammates stepping in to separate them before either could do anything they'd regret. Granger was called for a technical Thursday after he pulled James' jersey on a breakaway and then took exception to an elbow extended toward his face.

"That's part of basketball. That's two men battling," Granger said. "I'm not backing down from anybody, and he's not backing down from anybody. And when you get that, you get some altercations."

Vogel has preached all season for his players to have an "edge," but doesn't want them to do anything that could hurt the team.

"They understand very clearly that we are not interested in any ejection or suspension," he said. "They also understand very clearly that a key to this series is letting the Miami Heat know that we're not backing down from them."

Granger said he knows not to take things too far. The risks are too great.

"I know where the line is," Granger said. "(NBA commissioner) David Stern has done a good job of making sure we know what the line is and what not to cross. We won't cross that line. We just want each other to know it's going to be an intense battle, and it's going to be a fight."

James brushed aside Granger's tough-guy talk as an opponent playing mind games.

"Why would he be scared of me?" James said. "I'm not no monster and this ain't no horror movie. I'm not trying to scare anybody. He's hyping himself up to say he's not scared of me. Have I ever been intimidated by anybody in this league? I don't think so.

"I go out and play my game and let my game do the talking."

James, Wade combine for 70 as Heat win Game 4

By TOM WITHERS
Posted May 20 2012 10:27PM

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) The coveted NBA championship, the one LeBron James needs to validate everything, was vanishing.

With 18,000 towel-waving fans roaring like the engines at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Indiana Pacers had knocked the Miami Heat to the floor and to the edge of elimination.

James didn't panic. He simply picked up his teammates and carried them to a win.

And this time, Dwyane Wade helped.

James scored 40 points with 18 rebounds and nine assists, and Wade added 30 points - 22 in the second half - as Miami rallied to even their semifinal series against Indiana with a 101-93 win on Sunday over the Pacers, who had the defending Eastern Conference champions down couldn't keep them there.

"I felt like I had to do whatever it took to win," said James, who played all but four minutes.

With All-Star forward Chris Bosh injured and back in Florida, the James-Wade tag team saved the Heat, who will host Game 5 on Tuesday night at AmericanAirlines Arena.

"Me and `Bron had it going," said Wade, who bounced back from the worst playoff game of his career - five points on 2-of-13 shooting - with one of his best, "We played off of each other very well. We both were aggressive at the same time. That's beautiful basketball for the Miami Heat when we play that way."

The Heat now head home back in control of the best-of-seven series, which is down to a best-of-three with two of the games on Miami's home floor.

"It's still going to be a dogfight," James said.

Udonis Haslem, playing with a large bandage covering a nasty cut over his right eye that required nine stitches, added 14 points for Miami.

For a while, the Heat's season was slipping away.

The underrated Pacers had built a 10-point lead in the third quarter and were threatening to run away as they did in Game 3, when James and Wade took over. They scored 38 consecutive points in one stretch bridging the second and third quarters and combined to score 28 of Miami's 30 in the third when the Heat seemed to be playing with two to Indiana's five.

"LeBron had that look," Heat forward Shane Battier said. "And when he has that look and Dwyane has that look, you want to run through a wall."

Wade finished with nine rebounds and six assists, erasing the ugly memory of Game 3 when he also had a confrontation with Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, a public dispute that turned into a bigger deal than it probably was because of a two-day break between games. The next day, Wade, who has refused to blame injuries for his recent struggles, visited his former Marquette coach Tom Crean, who is now at Indiana.

Wade said Crean had film for him to watch.

"I was able to be a student of the game," Wade said. "Just figuring out what I needed to do differently to help our team get this win. I just wanted to come out today and affect the game somehow. Obviously, I knew I was struggling a little bit on my offensive game. I wasn't going to let that affect my overall game."

James dismissed the idea the Heat were desperate team.

"That's a strong word," he said. "It's a team with a lot of veterans and a lot of fighters."

Danny Granger scored 20 and Paul George 13 to lead the Pacers. Center Roy Hibbert, so dominant at both ends in Game 3, had just 10 points and was in foul trouble in the second half.

Indiana coach Frank Vogel second-guessed his decision to keep Hibbert and David West on the bench for a long stretch after halftime. But it was the Pacers' inability to stop Wade and James that was the difference.

"You get the ball out of one of those guy's hands and it gets to the other guy's," he said. "It's not like one superhero and a bunch of role guys."

Granger's 3-pointer had given Indiana a 61-51 and the Pacers, outhustling the Heat to loose balls, appeared poised to take a commanding lead in the series.

But that's when James and Wade put on a jaw-dropping spectacle, combining for all but two points in a 25-5 run that put Miami up 76-66.

During one sequence, Wade lost his balance and fell and was lucky to push the ball toward James near the top of the key. As Wade scrambled to his feet, James alertly passed him the ball and he calmly knocked down a 3-pointer to give the Heat a 64-63 lead. The pair made easy shots, tough ones and did everything in their power to steer Miami away from a 3-1 hole.

Only eight teams in league history have overcome a 3-1 deficit to win a best-of-seven series. That's what the Heat were staring at with a loss in Game 4.

The Heat took a 76-70 lead into the fourth, and every time Indiana got close, either Wade or James responded.

Miami also got a huge lift down the stretch from Haslem, who hasn't been a factor in the series but made four big jumpers in the final six minutes despite having his head split by an elbow by Indiana's Tyler Hansbrough.

"Those guys carry a large load," Haslem said of Wade and James. "But sometimes we need other guys to step up and tonight was my turn. Next time it might be somebody else."

Granger's 3-pointer got the Pacers within 96-91 with 1:33 left, but Haslem hit another short shot and James closed the Pacers out with three free throws in the last 16 seconds.

Following the game, James sat in front of his locker icing both knees and reading a hard copy of "Hunger Games."

After finishing a page or two, he set the book down. There'd be time for that later.

The Heat were heading home, feeling good about the next chapter.

NOTES: James, Wade and Haslem combined for 53 of Miami's 55 second-half points. ... Before the game, Miami F Juwan Howard and Pacers G Stephenson exchanged words. In Game 3, Stephenson mocked James by flashing a choke sign after James missed a foul shot and Howard confronted the Indiana reserve. Pacers assistant coach Brian Shaw stepped between the players. ... Granger was slapped with his second technical in two games after getting in Wade's face late in the second quarter. ... James was one rebound shy of his postseason high. ... The national anthem was performed on harmonica by 85-year-old Carl Erskine, who pitched for the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1948-59. Erskine is an Indiana native. ... Heat owner Micky Arison was asked for his autograph by several fans sitting near the Miami bench. "You must be desperate," he cracked.

Notebook: Heat 101, Pacers 93

Posted Sunday May 20, 2012 10:07PM

By Conrad Brunner, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: This whole team vs. superstars storyline is playing out even more dramatically than scripted. Miami's marquee players took their Game 1 brilliance a step further in Game 4 and now the balance of the Eastern Conference semifinal series has shifted. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade combined for 70 points, including 38 in a row in a span of more than 13 minutes, as Miami rallied from a 10-point deficit to beat Indiana 101-93 Sunday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The Heat tied the series at 2-2 and regained homecourt advantage as the teams head to Miami for Game 5 Tuesday. James scored 40 with 18 rebounds and nine assists, while Wade shook off another slow start to score 22 of his 30 in the second half, hitting 10 of 13 shots to erase the memory of his five-point outing in Game 3. Indiana got 20 points from Danny Granger but big men Roy Hibbert and David West both were limited by foul trouble and combined for just 18 points and 15 boards.

QUOTABLE: "You're not just going to always be able to dominate a game. It's two competitive forces going at each other. The one thing I know about the fabric of Dwyane Wade is that when he doesn't have the game he's capable of, he's very introspective, he owns it. He has shown an ability year after year to bounce back."
-- Miami coach Erik Spoelstra

THE STAT: For the second straight postseason, a pair of teammates combined for 70-plus points when James and Wade accomplished the feat today. Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant (35 points) and Russell Westbrook (40) last accomplished the feat in a triple-overtime win against Memphis in Game 4 of last season's West semifinals.

THE STAT II: From 2:39 of the second quarter to 1:30 of the third, Wade and James combined for 38 consecutive Miami points. After Udonis Haslem made a pair of free throws, they combined for the next 10, making it 48 of the team's 50.

TURNING POINT: The Pacers led 61-51 early in the third quarter, the period they had dominated in winning Games 2 and 3. But Wade and James went to work, attacking the basket, finding each other for layups and dunks and simply shredding the Indiana defense for the first 23 points in a 25-5 run that flipped the scoreboard and put the Heat up 76-66.

QUOTABLE II: "The last two days have been mental. I've spent some time up at I.U. (Indiana University) with Coach (Tom) Crean (his coach at Marquette), spent some time with a mentor, a father figure. It was great for me just getting away and to get that energy I needed from him."
-- Wade

HOT: James shot 14 of 27 and made 12 of 16 free throws. Wade started 1 of 8 but finished 12 of 15. Haslem scored 14 points off the bench, hitting five of six shots and scored eight in the final six minutes. Darren Collison had another big game off the Indiana bench, scoring 16 points in 20 minutes, making six of seven shots.

NOT: Indiana's starting lineup combined to shoot 21 of 55 (.382).

QUOTABLE III: "It comes down to this: yes, you can get the ball out of their hands and make other guys make plays but you get the ball out of one of those guys' hands and it finds its way to the other guy. It's not just like one superhero and a bunch of role players. You've got to worry about the other guy."
-- Indiana coach Frank Vogel

GOOD MOVE: After keeping Haslem on the bench for the second half of the Game 3 loss, Spoelstra leaned on the veteran forward Sunday and was rewarded as Haslem made four big jumpers down the stretch that helped the Heat hold off the Pacers.

BAD MOVE: West became obviously annoyed by the tactics of smaller Miami defender Shane Battier and picked up his second personal foul less than five minutes into the game. Hibbert joined West in foul trouble in the second half, mitigating Indiana's biggest matchup advantage.

NOTABLE: Granger picked up his third technical foul in three games late in the second quarter but this time he got in Wade's face after responding to James on the first two. ... The Pacers yielded their highest point total of the postseason. ... James' six offensive rebounds tied his most ever in the postseason. ... In the Pacers' two wins, they outscored Miami 54-26 in the third quarter. In the Heat's two wins, its advantage was 58-38 in the period. ... After making five 3-pointers in the first three games, Miami went 5-of-12 Sunday. ... Miami's 50 points in the half were the most allowed by the Pacers in the playoffs, while Indiana's 32 was its lowest of the postseason. ... Miami's Juwan Howard had a shouting match with Lance Stephenson during warmups before the game, apparently in response to the Indiana guard's flashing the choke sign toward LeBron James during Game 3. ... Miami used its fourth lineup in four games, with Ronny Turiaf back in at center and Battier at power forward joining James, Wade and Chalmers.

UP NEXT: Game 5 is set for Tuesday in Miami's AmericanAirlines Arena at a time to be determined (TNT).

• Heat: Bosh, Curry
• Pacers: Fesenko, Foster

• Heat: --
• Pacers: Granger

• Lead Changes: 3
• Times Tied: 1

• Arena: Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN
• Officials: #13 Monty McCutchen, #24 Mike Callahan, #55 Bill Kennedy
• Attendance: 18165
• Duration: 2:35