TORONTO, 27 April 2005 — Reggie Miller scored 28 points, including the game-winning basket, as the Indiana Pacers evened up their playoff series against the Boston Celtics with an 82-79 road victory on Monday.
The veteran’s 13-footer with 37 seconds remaining gave the Pacers a three-point lead that turned out to be the last score of the game, with Ricky Davis and Paul Pierce both missing late shots for the Celtics.
With the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal all square at 1-1, the teams head to Indianapolis for Games Three and Four.
The 39-year-old Miller rebounded from a poor Game One, in which he scored just seven points as Boston won 102-82. Miller, who plans to retire at the end of the playoffs, went 9-for-18 from the floor while playing a team-high 39 minutes. The Pacers trailed by five points after three quarters, but Indiana held Boston to just 10 points in the fourth to nail down the win.
Stephen Jackson added 20 points for the Pacers, while Jermaine O’Neal chipped in with 13. Pierce led all scorers with 33 points for the Celtics, who shot just 39 percent yet still held a seven-point lead with eight minutes remaining.
Antoine Walker added 19 points and seven rebounds for Boston, but no other Celtic managed more than six points.
In the day’s other playoff game, Yao Ming scored 33 points and Tracy McGrady added 28, including the winning basket with less than three seconds remaining, as the Houston Rockets stunned the Mavericks 113-111 in Dallas. McGrady added 10 assists and eight rebounds and Yao was 13-for-14 from the field as the two Rockets stars gave Houston its second straight road win to open the series.
Houston trailed 102-95 with 5:36 to play before McGrady and Yao teamed up to rally the Rockets into a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
The Mavericks called a timeout after McGrady’s final basket, but a last second shot from Michael Finley failed, sealing the Mavs fate.
