Pacers victory over Heat forces Game 7
Hibbert, George lead Indiana to home win
INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana staggered Miami with one more big punch Saturday night.
Now the Pacers have a fighting chance to pull off a stunning playoff upset.
Roy Hibbert did everything but pull out the boxing gloves in Game 6, finishing with 24 points and 11 rebounds, and continually contesting Miami’s shots to help Indiana stave off elimination with an emphatic 9177 victory over the defending champs.
“Roy Hibbert is making extraordinary plays in the pocket, poise in the pocket we call it,” coach Frank Vogel said. “He’s getting paint catches and just having great poise, great reads.”
Paul George scored 28 points, had eight rebounds and five assists, and the Pacers held Miami to 36.1 percent shooting as they booked a trip back to Miami for Game 7 on Monday night.
“Myself and David (West), we throw ourselves in the fray, in the paint. We like to muck it up,” Hibbert said. “Paul and myself, we wanted to make sure we got this for him as well. We didn’t want this to be our last game.”
Instead, after winning their first division crown since 2004, the Pacers are one win away from advancing to the NBA Finals for the second time in franchise history.
They lost to the Lakers 4-2 in 2000.
The Pacers haven’t played a seventh game in the conference finals since losing to Chicago in 1998.
The Pacers had a 53-33 rebounding advantage, outscored Miami 4422 in the paint and limited Miami’s shooters to 16 of 54, 29.6 percent, from inside the arc.
James led the Heat with 29 points. Nobody else scored more than 10.