Heat Rally From 18 Down, Top Pacers 103-100 In OT
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MIAMI (AP) — Chris Bosh scored 31 points, Dwyane Wade had 27 including a layup that beat the buzzer and forced overtime, and the Miami Heat erased an 18-point third-quarter deficit to beat the Indiana Pacers 103-100 on Monday night.
Goran Dragic added 13 for Miami, which matched a season best with its third straight win.
Paul George scored 32 points on 12-for-29 shooting for Indiana, but his 3-pointer from the right corner bounced off the rim on the game's final play. Monta Ellis had 17 points, Ian Mahinmi finished with 10 and Rodney Stuckey scored 10 for the Pacers.
Bosh put Miami up with a pair of free throws with 3:14 left in overtime, and the Heat wouldn't lose the lead again.
A pair of offensive rebounds in the final seven seconds helped seal it for Miami. Justise Winslow grabbed one off a miss by Wade and made one free throw, his second being rebounded by Bosh for another Miami trip to the line.
Bosh made the second of his two, putting Miami up 103-100 with 3.9 seconds left in the extra session. The last shot of the game went to George, Wade grabbed the rebound as time expired and Miami escaped.
Indiana led by 18 in the third quarter, before the Heat roared back. An 18-3 run cut the lead down to the three early in the fourth, and the scoring margin was never more than three for either team in the final 3:52 of regulation.
The Heat took their first lead with 3:11 left in the fourth on a free throw by Bosh, after Pacers coach Frank Vogel was hit with a technical by referee Zach Zarba. Bosh gave the Heat the lead again on a 3-pointer with 1:03 left, before Ellis connected on a foul-line jumper with 16.9 seconds remaining to put the Pacers back up 94-93.
After Stuckey made one of two free throws with 2.7 seconds left in regulation, the Heat gave the ball to Wade. His left-handed layup beat the buzzer and sent the game to overtime.
It was a wild finish to a game that got off to a wacky start.
A malfunction kept the lights that illuminate the floor from coming back on after Miami's starting lineup was announced, leading to a delay of nearly half an hour and briefly sending both teams back to their locker rooms.
The Pacers weren't thrown off. They made their first four 3-pointers in the early moments, using them to fuel a 15-3 run to start the game.
Wade had two fouls before the Heat had any points, and Miami coach Erik Spoelstra decided to let him play through the early trouble. A highlight-caliber dunk was the payoff for that move, Wade elevating over CJ Miles to catch a half-court alley-oop pass from Dragic and dunk to get Miami within 21-15 midway through the first.
The Heat missed their first 10 tries from 3-point range and the Pacers — despite shooting 35 percent in the half, compared with 33 percent by Miami — went into intermission with a 47-44 lead. Then Indiana opened the second half on a 23-8 run, pushing the lead to 70-52 midway through the third quarter.
And that's when Miami finally hit its stride.
TIP-INS
Pacers: George Hill (food poisoning) was out, so CJ Miles — who has started 23 of his 29 appearances this season anyway — was back in the Indiana starting lineup. Miles left late in the first quarter with a sore right shoulder, and Glenn Robinson III started the second half in his place. ... Indiana won the first two matchups with Miami this season.
Heat: Miami C Hassan Whiteside (sore right knee) was out, so Chris Andersen started in his place and picked up three fouls in the game's first 4:40. ... Tyler Johnson got his first career technical in the second quarter, clapping his hands to argue a foul called against him.
FREE THROWS BIG
Indiana went 18 for 25 from the line, but those seven misses came at big times. George and Stuckey each missed one in the final moments of regulation, and Ian Mahinmi missed a pair with the Pacers down by one late in overtime.
OT RECORDS
Miami improved to 2-1 in overtime games this season, all three of them coming since Christmas. Indiana fell to 0-3 in games that go into extra periods, all three of those contests coming on the road.
UP NEXT
Pacers: Visit Orlando on Wednesday.
Heat: Host New York on Wednesday.
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