Roy Hibbert stars as Indiana Pacers rout Miami Heat 94-75 in Game 3 - NBA Playoffs 2012 Recap
Roy Hibbert ripped through the game 3 with one of his best ever performances to help the Indiana Pacers run riot over the Miami Heat 94-75 and take a 2-1lead in this Eastern Conference Semi Final series on Thursday night at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
Hibbert finished the game with 19 points,18 rebounds and 5 blocks, but he was not the only one doing the damage on the inside. David West followed him up with 14 points of his own and nearly recorded a double-double as well by grabbing 9 rebounds.
Danny Granger also had a good game with 17 points while George Hill led the scoring charge for the Pacers with 20 points on a 6-for-8 shooting which included 3 long range daggers. Paul George contributed 9 points as well.
Mario Chalmers tried his best to help his team mate LeBron James out with 25 points in the game, with much of the scoring coming in the first half of the game. James tried to do a little bit of everything for his team by managing 22 points, 16 of them coming in the first half before the Pacers defence got to him in the second half which limited his influence in the game.
Much credit of this win should go to Indiana`s defence throughout the night which held Dwyane Wade to just 5 points in the entire game on a 2 of 13 shooting. Joel Anthony came off the bench to add 10 points as well.
Throughout the night, Heat struggled to get going offensively and even though they were able to keep the scores level till the halfway stage, courtesy of James and Chalmers, they lacked the chemistry.
Head coach Erik Spoelstra tried a new starting line up of Shane Battier, Dexter Pittman to go along with James, Wade and Chalmers, a contingent that had only been on the court together for 9 minutes in the regular season and the lack of cohesiveness was very prominent in the game.
After an inspiring win in Game 2, Indiana wanted to keep on with their winning ways and they started the game in spectacular fashion by coming out with a 7-0 spurt. However Miami eventually started their scoring tally and by the 3:18 mark were able to tie the game up at 17 each. They closed out the rest of the proceedings in the first quarter with a 9-0 run to make the score 26-17.
Indiana came out in the second quarter, much in the same way as they did at the start of the game, putting together a 9-2 run to make this one a two point game, 26-28. Even though the Heat tried their best to maintain their lead, however by the 1:45 mark, Pacers were able to turn things around and led by 3 points.
Things remained close for the remaining time in the second period and James, who had played almost 21 minutes in the first half, capped it off with a left hand slam to tie the game at 43 before heading into the break.
At the 8:41 mark in the third quarter, Indiana led 50-48. From that point on, they put together a 14-2 run to completely turn the tide in their favour. The lead remained in double figures after that and by the end of the third quarter Indiana were leading 69-55.
The offensive explosion continued for the Pacers in the fourth as they looked to stomp their assertiveness in the series. They were able to extend their lead to as much as 20 points.
It took almost 9 and a half minutes for Spoelstra to realise that his team could not win this game as he pulled James and Wade out with 2:43 remaining in the fourth quarter and the Pacers eventually took this one by a margin of 19 points in the end.
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