Indiana 94, Miami 75: Hibbert dominates Game 3
This was the Roy Hibbert everyone was expecting to emerge.
Indiana’s 7-foot-2 center had 19 points and 18 rebounds to help the Pacers defeat the Miami Heat 94-75 on Thursday night and take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 second-round Eastern Conference playoff series.
Hibbert has had great expectations placed on him because Chris Bosh, Miami’s star inside threat, is out with an abdominal injury. Hibbert stepped up with what Pacers coach Frank Vogel called one of the best games he’s seen him play. Hibbert made 9 of 16 shots and dominated defensively with five blocks.
“Them being one and done, that’s what we talked about in the huddle,” Hibbert said. “One shot and they’re done.”
And now, Miami is almost done. One more game like this one, and the Heat’s championship dreams might be dashed before Bosh can recover. And now, they face a confident Indiana team that will be at home Sunday for Game 4 with a fan base that now believes because it has seen.
George Hill had 20 points, Danny Granger had 17 and David West added 14 points and nine rebounds for the Pacers, who outscored Miami 26-12 in the third quarter to break the game open after it was tied 43-all at the break.
“We put ourselves in position to do something on the road, and we came out with a very flat, inefficient third quarter, and it snowballed from there,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said.
Mario Chalmers had 25 points and LeBron James added 22 for Miami. Dwyane Wade finished with five points on 2-for-13 shooting with one assist and five turnovers.
“We’re certainly happy with the win, but we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Vogel said.
Other things of note:
Granger showed up. Indiana’s leading scorer during the regular season struggled offensively in the first two games of this series. Even though he shot only 6-for-15 in Game 3, he was confident. His 3-pointer in the opening minute of the game set a positive tone, and he scored 10 points in the third-quarter surge that gave the Pacers control of the game. He also had seven rebounds and four assists, making himself a factor when he wasn’t scoring.
George was a factor at both ends. George was Wade’s primary defender, and he had seven points in the third quarter. Of equal importance: he only committed one foul.
James wasn’t a factor in the second half. With Wade struggling, James couldn’t pick up the slack. James shot 3-for-9 from the field and had just one rebound after the break.
Leandro Barbosa went scoreless. This is key because he didn’t need to come in and bail out the starters.
Miami’s starters struggled. Shane Battier and Dexter Pittman moved into the starting lineup, and both went scoreless on combined 0-for-9 shooting.
Indiana outrebounded Miami 52-36 and held the Heat to 32 percent shooting in the second half.
And, saving the best for last, my 6-year-old son, Elias, was right about George Hill. When I dropped him off at school this morning, he said Hill was going to have a big game. Hill scored 11 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter to help keep the Heat at bay. Hill did it on just eight field-goal attempts.
__
Follow Cliff Brunt on Twitter: www.twitter.com/cliffbrunt_isl.
