For the past three years the Miami Heat have been known as the “big 3” but as for this year’s Eastern Conference Finals, it’s been a big one.
LeBron James scored a game high 30 points to go along with 8 rebounds and 6 assists to give the Heat a 90-79 win Thursday night.
With the victory, Miami has a 3-2 series lead over the Indiana Pacers.
History is on James and the Heat’s side; the winner of game 5 goes on to win the series 83% of the time.
The third quarter seemed to be the saving grace for the defending champs. Miami scored 30 of their 90 points in that period, while only combining for 60 points in the other three-quarters.
The four-time MVP scored 16 of his 30 points after half time, carrying the load without much help.
Dwayne Wade finished with 10 points while Chris Bosh struggled again scoring only 7.
Indiana who blew another good chance at winning in Miami, missed three easy layups in the opening quarter and a handful in the first half, killing their chances of building a double-digit lead.
Pacers forward Paul George finished with 27 points, 15 coming in the first half.
If Indy is going to have a shot at winning and extending this series they will need to get more out of George Hill.
Hill finished with 1 point going 0-4 from the field.
The Pacers don’t have a “go to guy” like Miami, so their points will need to come from ball movement and post play.
The Heat thrive off turnovers and to beat them the tempo needs to be slow and methodical.
Indy had 17 turnovers on Thursday; they can’t win that way.
Game 6 will be played in Indiana on Saturday, tip-off set for 8:30pm.
