Pacers at Heat final score: Miami takes control of No. 1 seed with win over Indiana
By Josh Sanchez
On Friday night, the top two teams in the Eastern Conference faced off at the American Airlines Center for a chance to take control of the No. 1 seed. The Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers are one of the great match ups in the NBA today and the game looked to be another thrilling chapter to the rivalry.
Unfortunately for the Pacers, a second-half charge by the Heat was all Miami needed to run away with the win, 98-86.
Indiana was able to jump out to a first quarter lead, but the Miami Heat rebounded in the second half to take a three-point lead into the half.
That is where it all went wrong for the Pacers.
Miami stormed out of the gate in the third quarter and went on a 16-0 to break the game wide open and extend their lead to 19. From there, the Pacers were going to need to dig deep if they wanted to stop the Heat from pulling off the win and leapfrogging them for the top spot in the East.
The Pacers were able to slightly narrow the gap to 14-points entering the final quarter, but Miami was still looking strong behind LeBron James’ 30 points.
Indiana was never able to find their groove in the second-half, as the Heat ran away with the game and took over control of the No. 1 seed. Miami has said that getting the top seed was not their goal, but it must be nice to get a big win after their recent struggles.