Heat Rallies for Victory Over Pacers
Heat Rallies for Victory Over Pacers
Published: 3/28/06, 7:05 AM EDT
MIAMI (AP) - The Miami Heat lost their shooting stroke for the entire second quarter.
Their composure was gone for even longer.
And they were without their starting power forward for most of the night. Somehow, the Heat still figured out a way to solve the Indiana Pacers.
Shaquille O'Neal scored 23 points, had 11 rebounds and - perhaps most impressively - hit 11 of 14 free throws, Dwyane Wade rallied to score 22 points, and the Heat dug out of a 14-point third-quarter deficit to beat the Pacers 96-91 on Monday night.
It was Miami's second win over Indiana in the teams' last 16 regular-season meetings. If the teams play again this year, it'll be in the playoffs - possibly as early as the first round.
"We needed this game, because we really haven't played them well the last 13, 14 games," O'Neal said. "We just wanted to come out and play them tough. We did that in the first half and then the little altercation thingy happened and we lost composure. ... We just had to get it back."
The aforementioned "little altercation thingy" nearly doomed the Heat.
Miami's Udonis Haslem and Indiana's Jermaine O'Neal got tangled with 5:25 left in the half, and the two exchanged heated words. Both were issued technical fouls, but Haslem also was charged with an offensive foul, then a second technical - and an ejection - for arguing that call.
"Only three people thought the foul was on me," Haslem said afterward, apparently taking a thinly veiled shot at the officiating crew. "I don't understand it."
Well, at least four people thought Haslem was guilty.
"He tried to bend my arm back," Jermaine O'Neal said. "I don't know when he became tough, but all of a sudden, he became tough. It's in his best interest to concentrate on getting a rebound and be quiet."
Jason Williams added 18 points for Miami, which outrebounded Indiana 53-32 and moved closer to wrapping up its second straight Southeast Division title. Antoine Walker had 11 for Miami, which survived despite shooting 4-for-28 in the second quarter - its worst one-period showing of the season.
"Sort of an ugly game," Shaquille O'Neal said.
Stephen Jackson scored 22 points for Indiana, which got 19 more from Peja Stojakovic and 17 from Jermaine O'Neal, who fouled out in the final minute. Jamaal Tinsley scored 10 for the Pacers.
In other NBA games Monday, it was: New Jersey 110, Phoenix 72; Utah 104, New Orleans 80; and Washington 116, Golden State 98.
Miami didn't respond well after the Haslem-O'Neal exchange, ending the half in an 0-for-11 drought. All five points the Heat managed in the final 5 minutes of the half were from the foul line, helping Indiana build a 53-42 lead at the break.
"We came totally unglued after the altercation," Heat coach Pat Riley said. "As a team, when the emotional level gets ratcheted up somewhat, you have to maintain what I call 'it,' a real high competitive level but keep it together. We didn't, (but) we gathered ourselves really well in the third quarter."
Indiana led 58-44 early in the third quarter, before Shaquille O'Neal and Williams led Miami's rally. Each scored 11 points in the period, and the teams were tied at 71 entering the fourth.
"In the first half, Tinsley and Anthony Johnson were sagging off of me, especially when Dwyane had the ball," Williams said. "So I just wanted to come out and be aggressive."
With 7 minutes left, the Heat regained the lead on a spectacular play by Wade. After Jermaine O'Neal blocked Wayne Simien's shot, Wade scooped up the loose ball, drove on O'Neal, scored and got fouled; the three-point play put Miami up 80-79, and the Heat wouldn't trail again.
"He made a couple of great plays at the end," Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said. "Great players are going to make great plays. In the grand scheme of the game, the third quarter was our undoing."
Stojakovic and Jermaine O'Neal scored back-to-back hoops to tie the game at 83 with 4:49 left, but another three-point play from Wade and two clutch baskets from Simien helped the Heat build the lead back to 92-85 with 1:57 left.
"We just let a game slip we could have had," Tinsley said.
Nets 110, Suns 72
At East Rutherford, N.J., New Jersey won its ninth straight, holding Phoenix to its lowest point total of the season.
Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire were both scoreless for the Suns, who entered averaging an NBA-high 108.4 points but shot a franchise-worst 26.8 percent (26-of-97).
Wizards 116, Warriors 98
At Oakland, Calif., Washington's Gilbert Arenas scored 40 points and Antawn Jamison added 31 as the former Warriors beat their old team.
Jazz 104, Hornets 80
At Salt Lake City, Deron Williams had 20 points and five assists, and Utah (33-37) passed slumping New Orleans (32-37) in the Western Conference standings.
credit BellSouth
