The Heat regained control of the Eastern Conference Finals with a 99-87 Game 3 victory Saturday night over the Indiana Pacers in Miami.
LeBron James and Dwyane Wade led the Heat's scoring attack with 26 and 23 points, respectively. But it was Ray Allen who put the game away by hitting all four of his 3-point attempts in the fourth quarter.
Allen finished with 16 points as the Heat grabbed a 2-1 lead in the series. Game 4 will be played Monday night in Miami.
"This was a tough loss for our guys," Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. "We competed pretty well, came out the gates really strong, got off to a good start and then didn't manager our foul trouble well and didn't manage picking up their defensive intensity well."
The Pacers suffered their second straight loss. It's the first time this postseason that Indiana has dropped two in a row.
Miami struggled to find its rhythm in the opening quarter, connecting on just two of its first 10 field-goal attempts, and the Pacers took advantage. Indiana scored nine points off turnovers in the first en route 21-14 lead.
"We have a lot of confidence versus our opponent, but we don't want to keep digging holes. We hate the way we played to start the game," James said. "The start of the game wasn't the type of basketball we're accustomed to, we turned the ball over way too much."
"Myself and a couple of others guys had turnovers, but we kept going, getting into our game."
While each team had difficulty getting its offense untracked in the second quarter, the Heat began showing signs of life outscoring Indiana by three to cut its deficit to 42-38 at halftime.
"A lot of our situations that we've been through where we've struggled have been against this team," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "That's what they do to you. It's a function of their defense.
"But we had no choice but try to re-gather."
Paul George, who suffered a concussion in Game 2, led Indiana with 17 points. Roy HIbbert added 16 and David West finished with 13 points.
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