Geoff JohnsonThe Indiana Pacers keep surprising everybody as they tied the series against the Miami Heat at two a side and will try to steal the fifth game from the American Airlines Arena, Thursday at 8:30 PM ET.
23 points and 12 rebounds by Roy Hibbert gave the Pacers a 99-92 win over the Heat. Indiana out-rebound Miami 17-8 in the final period to tie the series.
“We’re never going to give up. We’re relentless,” Hibbert said. “All those guys in there, they believe we can win. No matter what all the analysts or whoever says anything, they count us out, those guys in the locker room were ready to play, and we went out and played our hearts out.”
“That’s what the series is about, who can get to who and do it for longer periods of time. They kept us out of the paint,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We’ll just have to do it better.”
The Heat went 1-of-9 in the final 5 minutes of the 4th quarter Tuesday. “We had them right where we wanted them, but every time we would get a stop, especially in the fourth quarter, we didn’t come up with the rebound,” Chris Bosh said. “It was there for us, but we didn’t capitalize.”
Roy Hibbert (in this series) and Dirk Nowitzki (2011 NBA Finals) are the only players in the Heat’s “Big 3” era that manages to get at least 20 points and 10 rebounds in three straight postseason games vs Miami.
Miami opens game 5 as an 8 point favorite; the game total is set at 183.5.
