Paul George showed out tonight, dropping 37 points on the Miami Heat, including 21 in the 4th quarter alone.
There was a stretch late in the game where it seemed as if he couldn’t miss no matter who was guarding him. David West contributed with 19 points for Indiana and the frequently absent Roy Hibbert had 10 points and 13 rebounds.
Lance Stephenson was in his element tonight too, doing a little bit of everything to aggravate the Heat players and even Coach Spoelstra a few times. He interrupted the Heat huddle twice, flopped a few more times, and was even caught blowing in Lebron James ear. Apparently, all is fair game when trying to get under the 4-time MVP’s skin.
However, it wouldn’t take much as the big story was Lebron James being in foul trouble the entire night. The Miami star was only able to play 23 minutes, ending with a playoff career low in points – a sad 7. It was a very frustrating outing for James, as he was never able to find any sort of rhythm and it showed late in the game with a chance to win. The Heat were down two points, and instead of being aggressive finishing at the rim he chose to kick out to Bosh on the three point line. Bosh who shot just 9-21 did turn in a 20 and 10 performance while Wade added 18 points. Surprise of the night had to be Rashard Lewis, who was on fire shooting 6-9 from beyond the arc for 18 points.
Even without a real contribution from Lebron James and Paul George playing like his life depended on it, the Pacers still only won the game 93-90. So although they live to fight another day, it is pretty clear the series will be over Friday night in Miami. Led by a motivated James, this next one is looking like a potential blowout and he will probably add another 30, 10, and 5 game to his resume. Just wait on it.
The Pacers will travel to Miami for Game 6 on Friday live on ESPN.
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