MIAMI, Florida, 20 May 2004 — Jermaine O’Neal came up with two huge defensive plays in the final 65 seconds as Indiana advanced to the NBA semifinals for the first time in four years with a 73-70 victory over Miami.
The top-seeded Pacers held on to register the first road win in the series on Tuesday and close out the pesky Heat in six games. They snapped Miami’s 18-game home winning streak.
Limited to seven points on 2-of-10 shooting, O’Neal found other ways to impact the game.
The All-Star forward pulled down 13 rebounds and blocked three shots, including one Pacers coach Rick Carlisle called “the play of the game.”
Indiana had a 71-67 lead when Miami’s Caron Butler drove for what appeared to be an uncontested layup.
O’Neal soared from the weak side and snuffed the shot while taking a finger in the left eye from Butler.
“O’Neal’s block on Caron was unbelievable,” Heat coach Stan Van Gundy said. “That was just a great, great block by a great player.”
O’Neal left the court, unable to open his eye. But after a layup by Dwayne Wade and a turnover by Jamaal Tinsley gave the Heat a chance to tie, he returned with 26 seconds remaining.
Eddie Jones dribbled into the lane and encountered O’Neal, who forced a high shot that bounced off the top and over the backboard with 17 seconds to play.
Anthony Johnson sank two free throws before the Pacers survived a potential tying 3-pointer by Rafer Alston that was well short at the buzzer.
Indiana is in the conference finals for the first time since 2000, the year of their only NBA finals appearance.
On Saturday, it hosts the winner of today’s game between New Jersey and Detroit.
Miami lost at home for the first time since March 2, ending a remarkable run.
The Heat won 17 of their last 21 games to grab home-court advantage in the first round, beat New Orleans in seven games for their first series win in three years and gave Indiana all it could handle.
“We didn’t believe it was going to come to an end tonight,” Wade said. “We’re going to keep our heads up because we know it was a great year.”
Said O’Neal, “You have to tip your hat to this Miami Heat team.”
Both teams shot terribly. The Pacers made 32 percent (22-of-68) from the field while Miami shot just 30.5 percent (25-of-82).
“If we can shoot 32 percent and win, that means we can win when the conditions are not the best,” Carlisle said.
Ron Artest carried Indiana’s offence with 27 points, 11 in the third quarter. He had a driving layup that gave the Pacers the lead for good at 67-66 with 3:38 to play.
Jamaal Tinsley sank a tough floater and followed in his own miss around a free throw by Jones, pushing the margin to 71-67 with 2:20 left.
“The feeling we have is that we’re capable of doing just about anything if we play together, and that’s what we did tonight,” said Tinsley, who scored 10 points. “Tonight was about us stepping up together as a team and getting it done.”
Wade scored 24 points and Lamar Odom added 22 for the Heat.
