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For the Miami Heat, it’s not how they start, but how they finish. After the Heat fell behind 2-1 in the series, Miami used dominant third quarters to win Games 4, 5 and 6 against the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

Despite trailing at the half in two of those three games, the Heat outscored the Pacers by a combined 35 points in the third quarter en route to a combined final margin of victory of 52 points over those three games.

With the win, the Heat advance to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second straight season and fifth time overall. The only other time they made it this far in the playoffs in consecutive seasons was in the 2005 and 2006 playoffs. The Heat’s only NBA title came in that 2006 postseason.

Miami’s clinching win was hardly surprising as the Heat improve to 5-2 in franchise history when leading a series 3-2 and haven’t lost since the 2005 Eastern Conference Finals against the Pistons. The Heat are now 6-0 this postseason and 3-0 in this series when scoring at least 100 points .

The Pacers, on the other hand, have never won a postseason series after trailing 3-2, dropping to 0-9 all-time after tonight’s 105-93 loss. The only other franchise that has lost as many as nine series without winning one in that situation is the Bulls (0-11), according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Keys to the Game
The Pacers dominated the interior in the first half outscoring the Heat 34-16 in the paint, with the Pacers starting frontcourt holding a 35-11 advantage over the Heat’s starting frontcourt in the first 24 minutes.

It was a different story in the second half, as the Heat outscored the Pacers 22-12 in the paint after halftime, with their depleted starting frontcourt outscoring their Pacers counterparts 19-16.

The Heat’s pressure defense also was a difference-maker in their second half comeback, as the Heat forced 10 Pacers turnovers and scored 17 points off those turnovers after halftime.

The Big Two
Dwyane Wade was the offensive spark in Game 6, scoring a team-high 41 points for his seventh career 40-point playoff game, which is tied for third-most among active players. The Heat are now 7-0 when Wade scores 40-plus points in the playoffs.

Wade continued his strong play on the interior, going 8-of-11 (73 percent) on shots inside 10 feet. But his biggest improvement in Game 6 came from outside, as he connected on a season-best nine field goals from 10 feet and beyond, and shot 64 percent from that distance.

LeBron James added 28 points in the victory, matching his career average of 28.3 points per game in potential series clinchers. That mark is the fourth-highest all-time, according to Elias, trailing only Michael Jordan, Elgin Baylor, and Jerry West (min. 15 games).

Game 6 between the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers (ESPN, 8 ET) will feature several key storylines to watch, including how the Heat replace a suspended Udonis Haslem. Miami will be without one of its best mid-range shooters, as Haslem has made seven mid-range jump shots (outside paint, inside 3-point territory) this series, trailing only LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.

Haslem has also been a spark off the Heat's bench in the last three games, scoring double figures in each of the last two. In three games Haslem has come off the bench this postseason, Miami averages 25.7 bench points. In seven games Haslem started, the Heat have gotten only 16.1 points from their bench.

With Dexter Pittman also suspended, the best option for the Heat is likely Ronny Turiaf, as his +13 this series is the highest among the Heat's available big men for Game 6. In this series, Turiaf has played only 65 minutes in five games. However, when he's been on the court, the Heat have outscored the Pacers by 13 points. Miami has also limited Indiana to just 33 percent shooting when he's playing. Also available in the frontcourt are Joel Anthony (+7) and Juwan Howard (+5).

Overall, the Heat appear to be in good position to advance. In NBA history, teams that have held a 3-2 lead in a best-of-seven series have gone on to win the series 85.9 percent of the time, including 4-0 in the First Round this postseason. In addition, the Pacers have never come back to win a best-of-seven series after trailing 3-2 (according to Elias they are 0-8 all-time).

James has been a prime reason why the Heat can close out the series tonight. He has recorded at least 30 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists in back-to-back postseason games, and if he matches those numbers in Game 6, he will become the first player in NBA history to do so in three consecutive postseason games.

History says James will have another strong performance tonight. According to Elias, James has scored at least 20 points in each of the last 11 potential playoff series-clinching games on the road, the second-longest current streak of any player in the league, behind only Kobe Bryant (19).

Meanwhile, Danny Granger (sprained ankle) has said that he will start Game 6. His play will be crucial, as he has been much better at home this series than on the road (averaging over nine points more at home).

What's more, the combination of himself, Paul George, Roy Hibbert, George Hill and David West have outscored opponents by 75 points when on the court together, the highest of any five-man lineup on any team this postseason.

A key for Indiana will be on the boards. The Pacers have outrebounded the Heat 102-76 in their wins in Games 2 and 3, but have lost the battle on the boards in their losses in Games 4 and 5 (outrebounded 96-73). When Hibbert is on the court, the Pacers are +15 rebounding, but with him off are -19.

You might be able to beat the Miami Heat at home once, but forget about doing it twice in a row.

In the regular season, they lost five home games. They not only won each of their next home contests, they did it in blowout fashion. The wins came by an average of 19.4 points. That included a 35-point win over the Indiana Pacers in January, two days after losing at home to the Atlanta Hawks.

That trend continued on Tuesday, albeit in a one-game playoff sample. Their 32-point win against the Pacers made them 6-0 in their next home game after a home loss with an average victory of 21.5 points.

The 32-point loss is also the worst loss in Pacers playoff history.

The path to victory in this game was their blistering shooting -- a playoff franchise-record 61.4 percent from the field. Their 115 points is tied for the second-most in franchise playoff history and the 32-point win is third-largest in franchise playoff history.

But it was the work inside from the Heat's star duo that continued the Heat's tone from last game.

LeBron James and Dwyane Wade outscored the Pacers inside five feet for the second straight game. James made all six of his attempts from this range in Game 5 and Wade went 3-for-5. The Pacers scored 16 points inside five feet in Game 5, their fewest this postseason.

Overall, James and Wade (58 points) outscored the entire Pacers starting lineup (45 points).

James' 30-point game was the 45th of his postseason career. That's as many as Dirk Nowitzki has and trails only Kobe Bryant's 85 among active players.

It also helped that Shane Battier scored more points in the first seven minutes of the game than he had over the first four games of this series combined.

The other boost came from transition scoring as the Heat scored a postseason-high 29 transition points. They are 6-0 this postseason when scoring at least 14 transition points. In each of the Heat’s three losses this postseason, they were outscored in transition.

What is Pau Gasol worth?

Many believe this is the central question of the Lakers' offseason.

Gasol was integral to three straight Finals appearances. He out-fought and outplayed Dwight Howard and Kevin Garnett in back-to-back Finals victories. But careers and perceptions change quickly in L.A. and, to many, it now appears imminent that Gasol and the remaining $38 million on his contract will be traded this offseason.

Three top Lakers writers break down Gasol's place in the Lakers' future:

• OC Register’s Kevin Ding (who noted Gasol had a plus/minus of minus-53 for the second round): "It's abundantly clear now that the triangle offense is long gone that Lakers can use some perimeter pizzazz and tenacity a lot more than they can use Gasol's versatility-turned-uncertainty. But even if Gasol averages 50 points and 30 rebounds in the Olympics, the Lakers have a further complication in that they are trying to reduce their payroll in the wake of the post-lockout luxury-tax penalties and revenue sharing that have changed their landscape. Because of that, trading Gasol for a great player who has another massive contract isn't what they really want, either. The Lakers might have to go that route and figure out some money things later, as they were willing to do with their aborted deal for Chris Paul before the season."
• ESPN LA’s Dave McMenamin: "Bryant publicly demoted Gasol to the third scoring option during the regular season and then called him out in the playoffs for not being the aggressive scorer he once was. That makes Gasol the first to go. Call up Houston. Call up Chicago. Call up Minnesota. Call up Orlando. See whether interest is still out there. Better yet, call up all 29 other teams and maybe even go the draft pick route. This year's draft is widely considered to be the deepest in nearly a decade. Gasol turns 32 in July. He's played 11 years in the league plus put in a ton of time overseas playing for the Spanish national team. He averaged 12.5 points per game during the playoffs. History will show he was a vital piece of the Lakers' championship lore, but now is not the time for nostalgia. He's the first domino."
• ESPN LA’s Brian Kamenetzky: "He's supremely talented, versatile and a true team player capable of elevating any good team to elite status, and perhaps of pushing a near-elite team over the top. On the other hand, he won't transform a Brooklyn-esque loser, is very expensive, on the downside of his career, and short of being sent to a team in Spain, won't energize a season-ticket base. Finding a new home for Gasol isn't a simple proposition. The same contract prompting the Lakers to move him will make many teams hesitant to take him on."

The analysis above agrees that Pau is: expensive, talented, seven years older than Andrew Bynum and perhaps not the best fit, emotionally, with Kobe Bryant (though that seemed to be working just fine a few years ago).

The Lakers need more depth and fewer gargantuan contracts, so all signals point to Gasol's departure. Indeed, the Lakers have signaled that they are ready to part with him and, though the transaction was canceled by the NBA, the thwarted three-way deal that would have brought Chris Paul to the Lakers still provides the most accurate measure of Gasol's value.

Back in December 2011, the Rockets were willing to give up Kevin Martin, Luis Scola and Goran Dragic in exchange for Gasol.

That’s quite a haul, and a similar trade this summer would supply the Lakers, who counted on Steve Blake and Devin Ebanks for important rotation minutes in the playoffs, with real punch off the pine.

But after a disappointing postseason, does Gasol net the same goodies?

It’s true 2012 was Gasol’s worst scoring season of his NBA career by a point, though his rebounding and assist numbers remained constant. And it’s true that Gasol played farther from the basket on offense than at any time in his career.

It’s also true -- and this is important -- that Pau Gasol is a center. The Lakers managed to end up with two excellent 7-foot players, so Gasol, the more versatile one, plays power forward, but he’s a center. And it’s hard to overvalue a center who rebounds, defends, scores and passes like Gasol. The fact that the Lakers have surplus of this kind of player is borderline obscene and the reason many thought they could contend this season despite their obvious flaws.

They have options.

Perhaps Bynum would draw a better return.

Or maybe instead of ditching Gasol or Bynum, the Lakers could, like the San Antonio Spurs, simply extract more value from their cheaper pieces. After all, the combined salary of Kawhi Leonard, Gary Neal and Danny Green is less than the Lakers pay Steve Blake.

But it won’t be possible for them to get anywhere near the salary cap with their big three -- or even their two bigs -- on the books.

See, here’s the real issue for the Lakers, the one that makes moving Gasol or Bynum seem inevitable: Kobe Bryant’s spectacularly huge contract.

Last offseason, Henry Abbott first noted what an albatross this contract would become:

"Bryant is due to draw a salary of $25,244,493 in 2011-2012, $27,849,149 the following year and $30,453,805 in 2013-2014, when he will be 35. The cold hard question for general manager Mitch Kupchak would become: Which Laker team is better, Bryant and $32 million or so in supporting cast, or $60 million in the best players money can buy without Bryant?

...it may be time to find out if Bryant might consider waiving his no-trade clause. He is such a big name that he may, even under a new CBA, fetch the Lakers a player or two in addition to salary cap relief.

Then there's the final, unthinkable option: It has been discussed that the new CBA may have an amnesty clause, that lets teams buy out players and send them on their way. Depending how it's negotiated, this could include salary cap relief. And if so, would the Lakers use it on Bryant?”

Whether or not they knew league-wide austerity measures were in the offing in 2010, when they gave Bryant his last big extension, there’s no debate that, in basketball terms, the Lakers drastically overvalued their star wing. He is now a volume scorer who is still an excellent player, but the fact is that players better than him -- like Dwight Howard, LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Chris Paul -- are paid way less. Even supposing that, despite his age, Bryant's game somehow remains at its current level, the market price for a superstar has fallen precipitously since his last contract.

By the time Kobe's current contract nears expiration, it will be one of the worst in the NBA -- not because he will have deteriorated beyond recognition, but because the outrageous sum will have such a limiting effect on the Lakers' options.

So perhaps instead of wondering what Pau is worth, we should be asking different questions:

Is it worth $30 million in 2014-15 to see Bryant retire a Laker?

To many, the answer is an emphatic “Yes!”

But what about on the court -- is he worth more than Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili combined?

Because that’s how much he makes.

Is he worth destroying the most formidable frontline in the NBA?

Because, as everyone seems to tacitly acknowledge, that’s how much Kobe Bryant costs.

Starting center Roy Hibbert has been in foul trouble in both games that the Indiana Pacers have lost to the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
In the second half of Game 1, Hibbert sat for 11 minutes, 25 seconds spanning the third and fourth quarters, which is one reason the Heat outscored the Pacers by 14 points on field goals less than five feet from the basket in the second half.

Overall in Game 1, the Heat outscored the Pacers, 40-22, inside of five feet from the hoop.

In Game 4, the Pacers were minus-8 with Hibbert off the court, and minus-5 in rebound differential. With Hibbert on the bench from the 5:03 left in the third quarter until 6:11 left in the fourth, the Heat made seven field goals -- including six within 12 feet of the basket (three each by Dwyane Wade and LeBron James).

Even without an inside scorer, the Heat have attacked the basket when Hibbert has been out of the game.

During the regular season, the Heat shot 62.3 percent on field goals less than 5 feet from the basket, which ranked fourth in the NBA (league average was 59.5).

With Hibbert on the floor, Miami’s field goal percentage inside of 5 feet drops to 51.7; however, with Hibbert on the bench, that percentage shoots up to 64.6. What’s more, the Heat attempt more than 42 percent of their shots inside of 5 feet when Hibbert is off the court, compared to less than 30 percent when Hibbert is playing.

There have been more than 3,000 postseason games in NBA history, but only once has a player scored 40 points, grabbed 18 rebounds, and recorded 9 assists in a game. At least until Sunday.

The Elias Sports Bureau tells us LeBron James joined Elgin Baylor as the only players in postseason history to register 40 points, 18 rebounds and 9 assists in a game as the Miami Heat evened their series with the Indiana Pacers at two games apiece. Baylor posted his 40-18-9 game in a Los Angeles Lakers win over the Detroit Pistons in Game 1 of the 1961 Western Division Semifinals.

Betweens points scored and assists, James had a role in 62 of the Heat’s 101 points Sunday. That’s the highest such percentage (61.4) for James in any game this season.

But Miami’s performance was far from a one-man show, as Dwyane Wade scored 30 points one game after being held to five points on two-for-13 shooting. James and Wade became just the fifth set of teammates to have a 40-point game and 30-point game in a road playoff win in the last 20 years.

After trailing by eight at halftime, James and Wade combined to outscore the Pacers 43-39 over the final two quarters. And after much was made of the Pacers rebounding edge in Game 3, it’s worth noting that James and Wade also had more rebounds than Indiana in the second half in Game 4 (19-18).

The Heat’s big two were dominant at the rim, outscoring the entire Pacers team on shots inside of five feet (32-26). Wade made six of his seven shots inside five feet after attempting a season-low one shot from that distance in Game 3.

Indiana’s eight-point lead through two quarters was the largest blown halftime lead for the Pacers this season. They fell to 15-1 when leading by eight or more entering the second half in 2011-12.

The two teams will meet in the all-important Game 5 Tuesday night in Miami. In NBA history, teams to win Game 5 of a series tied at two go on to win the series 83 percent of the time.

There's been lots of speculation as to why Dwyane Wade was so painfully ineffective in Game 3 -- including reports that he may actually be in pain.

On the NBA Today podcast, Bucks forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute attributed some of the Heat star's struggles to the absence of Chris Bosh.

Later in that same podcast, David Thorpe notes that Wade simply looks like he's lost a step, and Paul George is doing a great job of using his incredible length and quickness to cut him off in isolation sets.

But Wade is also one of the best in the league at using pick-and-rolls to feast on defenses, and it's on those opportunities that his lack off aggressiveness is truly puzzling.

Perhaps we should doff our caps to Pacers coach Frank Vogel for designing a sharp strategy to neutralize the dynamic wing on this action.

Or maybe not.

Over on Pacers-themed blog Eight Points, Nine Seconds, Jared Wade goes to the tape, and finds no such wizardry.

An overwhelming majority of the times that LeBron, Wade and Chalmers have dribbled off a high screen, they have found themselves open. The guy defending them is busy fighting through the screen and the big man, as previously mentioned, is hanging back five feet in “free-safety/rim protection” mode. So they are open. It’s just that they are open in a way that they are unaccustomed to being open.

That has generally not deterred LeBron from being effective. He has still found many ways to score and create for teammates. Most impressively, he has resorted to a little running floater in the lane that I have hardly ever seen him take. It really is amazing. To deal with an unfamiliar way of being defended, he has basically created an entirely new weapon.

LeBron has also consistently found other ways to ensure that the Heat’s pick-and-roll attack — one of the most vital aspects of Miami’s offense — continues to be productive regardless of how it is defended.

In striking, baffling, puzzling contrast, Dwyane Wade has shown no such ability to adapt.

The video above is a horror flick for Heat fans.

Throughout the series, he has been confounded while coming off the screen with the ball. He has turned it over repeatedly, missed pull-up jumpers, missed floaters, missed layups, thrown poor passes and generally just been useless leading the pick-and-roll in all three games.

There really is no good way to explain exactly why such a talented player is having so much trouble making the right decision when he finds himself virtually unguarded dribbling off a screen. In this respect, two Wades are baffled.

In the clip above, just look at how many little hiccups there are in his attack and how indecisive his actions generally look. LeBron’s hesitations, on the other hand, are measured, change-of-pace moves that help create more space to attack.

Dwyane's hesitations just look like a guy who is clueless on what to do next.

It doesn't sound good, but we've seen this number before from Wade.

He struggled to do much of anything against the Celtics -- a team renown for its consistently excellent pick-and-roll defense -- throughout the regular season last year, then torched them on 52.5 percent shooting in five games during the playoffs.

For all the speculation about LeBron James' mental makeup, Wade's inconsistent effort (not to mention that blown layup at the end of Game 2) has largely gone uncriticized. The hometown hero with a ring to boot, Wade has escaped the sort of inspection many feel LeBron demands.

Maybe Wade just needs a day off to uncork another vintage performance.

But if the Heat can't recover from his current funk? Then, for the first time since he and James joined forces in Miami, it may be Wade who has to do the explaining.

HoopIdea wants to #StopTheFlop. To spotlight the biggest fakers, we present Flop of the Night. You can help us separate the pretenders from the defenders -- details below:

Today we bring you not one, not two, but three egregious flops from two of the game's finest players.

LeBron James is the most dominant athlete in the NBA, capable of leveling an entire team with an inspired run of unstoppable drives to the rim. So his willingness to exaggerate contact tends to drive fans nuts. Last night James found himself trapped against the sideline with David West and Danny Granger closing in on him. Out of any other options, and unprompted by contact, he essentially fell out of bounds (video) to preserve possession.

It happened right in front of ESPN's Mike Tirico, who called LeBron's performance "an extraordinary swan dive."

Not to be outdone, Tony Parker proved to Chris Paul and Blake Griffin that when it comes to flopping they still have much to learn. Parker's first flop came when a nudge from Chris Paul sent him careening to the floor (video).

The call was a big one -- it put Paul on the bench with three first half fouls.

But his best flopping work (Video) of the night came just 20 seconds later, and at the expense of Blake Griffin.

After chasing down a loose ball in the back court, Parker had only a handful of seconds to recover possession and get off a shot before the shotclock expired. Wary of this fact, Griffin chased him along the sideline to force Parker to use up the clock.

Instead, Parker used Blake's effort to draw a foul and rescue the possession.

With the benefit of replay, ABC play-by-play man Dan Shulman explained that instead of being fouled, "Tony Parker initiated that contact. He grabbed the arm of Blake Griffin, and made it look like he was being grabbed."

But the official who made the call was trailing the play, and only saw Parker's "reaction," not the shenanigans that prompted his wild flailing.

When you see an egregious flop that deserves proper recognition, send us a link to the video so we can consider it for Flop of the Night. Here's how to make your submission:

• Alert HoopIdea to super flops with the Twitter hashtag #FlopOfTheNight (follow us on Twitter here).
• Use the #FlopOfTheNight hashtag in Daily Dime Live.
• E-mail us at hoopidea@gmail.com

After they split two games in Florida, the Indiana Pacers returned home and handed the Miami Heat a 19-point loss Thursday night to take the series lead.

The Pacers lost their first playoff game at home, against the Orlando Magic, but have won their past three home games by a combined 52 points. All three of the victories have been by at least 15 points.

The key Thursday was Roy Hibbert, who finished with 19 points and 18 rebounds, both of which are career playoff highs. With Hibbert on the floor this series, the Pacers have outscored the Heat by 30 points; when he has been on the bench, they’ve been outscored by 17.

After not getting any support for LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in Game 2, the Heat’s leading scorer Thursday night was Mario Chalmers. It was the first time in 29 playoff games over the past two seasons that the leading scorer wasn’t one of the Big Three.

The Heat needed those points to offset the lack of production by Wade, who scored just five points. It was the second-lowest scoring playoff game in his career and the first time he scored fewer than 10 points since the first postseason series of his career, in 2004.

Part of the reason for his lack of scoring was his inability to get inside. Eleven of his 13 shots were from at least 10 feet out. His two field goal attempts from inside 10 feet were his fewest this season -- regular season plus playoffs -- and second fewest of his postseason career.

Wade didn’t have any more success filling the stat sheet elsewhere. Among players on the court for at least 35 minutes, he was the first since Eric Snow in 2001 to record no more than five points, rebounds or assists while turning the ball over at least five times.

The Heat have struggled to get out in transition against the Pacers. They scored 10 transition points on 39 percent shooting in Game 3 and have been outscored in transition over the first three games of the series.

Against the New York Knicks in the first round, the Heat shot 59 percent in transition and scored 39 more points than they allowed.

The Heat are even having trouble on open jumpers. In unguarded, catch-and-shoot situations, Miami made just two of 12 shots in Game 3. Against the Knicks, the Heat made 42 percent of these shots.

This is the eighth time LeBron’s team has lost back-to-back games in a playoff series. If the past is any indication, it doesn’t look good for the Heat. James’ team lost six of those previous seven series, including the past five.

Statistical support for this story from NBA.com.

The Miami Heat will be without Chris Bosh indefinitely after an MRI showed an abdominal strain.

Bosh missed nine games during the regular season, with the Heat going 4-5 in those games. It’s interesting to note that LeBron James missed three of those nine games and Dwyane Wade missed four of them. They were 2-2 when Wade and James played without Bosh.

When the Heat have needed him, Bosh has made some big shots during the regular season. Bosh led Miami with 19 game-tying or go-ahead field goals in the fourth quarter or overtime during the regular season. By comparison, Wade made 18 while James made 15 such shots.

When James and Wade played together without Bosh on the floor, the Heat outscored their opponents by over 17 points per 48 minutes. That was easily the best out of any combination of the three players.

The Heat will miss Bosh’s scoring production in the front court. Miami had the third highest scoring production during the regular season from their front court starters, who averaged 45.6 points per game. The Orlando Magic (46.5 PPG) and New York Knicks (46.0 PPG) were the only teams ahead of Miami.

With Bosh out indefinitely, look for James to be more aggressive. In six games without Bosh during the regular season, James increased his scoring by four points and also shot a higher percentage from the field than in games Bosh played.

On the flip side, Wade’s production decreased across the board in five games without Bosh this season.

During the regular season, the Heat were nine points better per 48 minutes with Bosh on the court. The difference was on offense, where Miami scored nearly eight more points in the paint per 48 minutes.

Not surprisingly, the Heat also were a better rebounding team and committed fewer turnovers with Bosh on the court.

After seeing a 3-1 series lead vanish after back-to-back losses, the Los Angeles Clippers went on the road and beat the Memphis Grizzlies by 10 points to pick up the first Game 7 win in franchise history.

According to Elias, the Clippers are the sixth team in NBA history to win Game 7 on the road after relinquishing a 3-1 series lead. It was only the third postseason series win in the franchise’s 42-year history and second since the club moved to the West Coast from Buffalo for the 1978-79 season.

The key to Sunday’s win was the defense. The Clippers held the Grizzlies to 72 points. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that’s the second-fewest points allowed on the road in Game 7 during the shot-clock era. The Indiana Pacers beat the Boston Celtics 97-70 in the 1st Round of the 2005 playoffs.

The biggest improvement was in transition defense. In Game 6, the Grizzlies outscored the Clippers 24-11 and made all eight shots in transition. On Sunday, the Grizzlies made only two of nine shots in transition and were outscored 16-6. In their four wins, the Clippers allowed nine points per game in transition; in defeat, that number climbed to 20 points per game.

The Clippers bench outscored the Grizzlies 41-11, with the five players off the bench all finishing with a positive plus-minus. During the 10 minutes that the five bench players were on the court together, they outscored the Grizzlies by 10 points.

The Clippers and Lakers both advancing to the Western Conference Semifinals creates a logjam on the schedule at Staples Center next weekend. With the Los Angeles Kings still alive in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the arena will host four basketball games and two hockey games from Thursday through Sunday, including doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday.

The Lakers (Friday and Saturday) and Clippers (Saturday and Sunday) will both be playing on consecutive days. Our friends at Elias let us know that this will be the first time an NBA team has played playoff games on consecutive days since May 10-11, 2003. The Dallas Mavericks played the Sacramento Kings and Detroit Pistons played the Philadelphia 76ers on both of those dates.

Notes from South Beach
Chris Bosh left the game with an abdominal strain in the second quarter, but that didn’t slow down the Miami Heat. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade combined for 42 points in the second half, outscoring the Indiana Pacers on their own. In the fourth quarter, James had 16 points to match the Pacers’ output.

LeBron joined Shaquille O’Neal as the only players in Heat history with a 30-point, 15-rebound playoff game.

After averaging 21.4 points per game in the 1st Round, Danny Granger scored seven points in the first game against the Heat. He was held scoreless in the first half for the first time since April 10, 2007 (regular season and playoffs combined).

The under-the-radar Indiana Pacers head south to take on the larger-than-life Miami Heat as their Eastern Conference semifinal series tips off Sunday at 3:30 ET on ABC.

The Pacers have had a pair of unsuccessful trips to South Florida this season, getting blown out by 35 on Jan. 4 and losing on a Dwyane Wade buzzer-beater on March 10. The 35-point loss was the Pacers' worst in more than two years.

Pacers leading scorer Danny Granger was held to just six points and made 2 of 13 shots from the field in that loss, a major reason he averaged just 13.3 points against the Heat in the regular season, more than five points below his team-best 18.7 scoring average.

While Granger was one of five Pacers to average at least 10 points per game in the regular season, no Miami Heat player topped that level outside of the team’s All-Star trio of Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron James, who led Miami with 27.1 points per game.

For the seventh time in seven attempts, James was able to lead his team to a series win in the first round of the postseason this year. But things are about to get tougher for the three-time MVP.

While James is unbeaten in seven first-round series, his team has lost three of his six conference semifinal series, dropping a seven-game series to the Detroit Pistons in 2006 and losing to the Boston Celtics in 2008 and 2010.

It will be strength against strength when James and the Heat attack the Pacers with the pick-and-roll. Miami averaged 0.94 points per play with the pick-and-roll in the regular season, sixth best in the NBA. But Indiana defended the pick-and-roll nearly as well as anyone, allowing just 0.86 points per pick-and-roll play, fourth best in the league.

A better bet for the Heat might be to dump the ball down low to Bosh or have James set up on the block. Indiana allowed 0.91 points per play in post-up situations in the regular season, better than just five teams.

Indiana’s offensive balance is undoubtedly an asset at times, but the lack of a go-to scorer has hurt the Pacers late in close game this season.

Indiana has made just 2 of 12 game-tying or go-ahead shots in the final 24 seconds of a game this season, with six different players attempting such a shot. Granger and Paul George lead the Pacers with three shots each in such situations, but neither has made a game-tying or go-ahead bucket in the final 24 seconds this season.

While the Heat’s end-of-game struggles have been more scrutinized, the Pacers have first-hand knowledge that Wade has emerged as the Heat’s most reliable option late in close games. Wade’s game winner against the Pacers on March 10 was one of his three game-tying or go-ahead buckets in the final 24 seconds this season.

Miami’s problem is if it can’t get it to Wade in such situations. While Wade was 3-for-6 on game-tying or go-ahead field goals in the final 24 seconds this season, the rest of the team was a combined 3-for-10.

LeBron James became the eighth player in NBA history to win three MVP awards Saturday, earning the honor after leading the Miami Heat in points, rebounds and assists this season.

James also led his team in total points, rebounds and assists when he won his first MVP award with the Cavaliers in 2008-09. He joins Wilt Chamberlain as the only players in league history to lead their teams in each of those categories in at least two MVP seasons. (Chamberlain did it three times).

For the sixth time in his nine NBA seasons, James averaged at least 27 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists per game. The only other player with six such seasons is Oscar Robertson, who did it six times in his 14 seasons.

As James made clear when he accepted the award, he has a "bigger goal" remaining this season: winning his first NBA title. At the moment, James is the only member of the three-MVP club without an NBA championship ring. The other seven players with three or more MVP trophies have combined to win 34 NBA titles, an average of nearly five per player.

James, Karl Malone and Steve Nash are the only players to win multiple MVP awards but not a league title (Malone and Nash have each won the award twice).

James earned 85 first-place votes and 1,074 total points, finishing 185 points ahead of runner-up Kevin Durant in voting. According to multiple metrics, James was the clear choice.

With James on the court, the Heat outscored opponents by 474 points during the regular season, giving James the highest plus-minus rating in the league. James has led the NBA in plus-minus each of the last four seasons since Paul Pierce had an NBA-best +784 rating in 2007-08.

James also led all players in estimated wins added, a metric that estimates the number of wins a player adds to a team over the course of a season above what would be expected from a "replacement" player. The concept is similar to wins above replacement (WAR) in baseball.

James is estimated to have added 23.5 wins to the Heat's season total this season. The top three in estimated wins added mirrored the top three finishers in MVP voting, with Durant (20.0) ranking second and Chris Paul (17.5) coming in third.

After extending the series with Sunday's win, the New York Knicks lost Wednesday to the Miami Heat, losing the series in five games and making it 12 straight seasons since last winning a playoff series.

The winless stretch is the second-longest in Knicks franchise history, succeeded only by a 15-season span from 1954-68.

Sunday's win only seemed to temporarily stave off the inevitable. It was a series almost entirely dominated by the Heat.

In their four losses, the Knicks lost each by double digits and were outscored by a combined 70 points. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the negative 14-point average scoring margin is New York's second worst in a best-of-7 playoff series in postseason history.

The Knicks struggled to move the ball in Game 5, recording just 13 assists on 36 made field goals (36.1 percent), their worst team assist percentage this season.

They struggled to get easy baskets all series, with three of the games ranking among their worst assist percentage games of the season.

Additionally, the Carmelo Anthony/Amare Stoudemire project continues to produce mixed results.

In the past 2 seasons, including the playoffs, the Knicks have gone just 31-40 with both Anthony and Stoudemire in the lineup, including 1-7 in the postseason. When it's just been Stoudemire, the Knicks are a .500 team; they're 13-7 in games where just Anthony has been in the lineup.

Helping expedite the Knicks' playoff exit was LeBron James, who led the Heat with 29 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in Game 5. James improved to 7-0 all-time in first-round playoff series.

James inched his scoring average in potential series clinchers up to 28.3, the fifth-best mark in NBA history (minimum 10 games).

Awaiting the Heat are the Indiana Pacers, against whom the Heat had success, taking three of four regular-season meetings. Indiana struggled offensively in those games, averaging 92.3 points in the four games, shooting 40.4 percent from the field.

The Heat and Pacers have met just one other time in the playoffs: the 2004 Eastern Conference Semifinals, which the Pacers won in six games.

Rajon Rondo made plenty of history in the Boston Celtics’ 90-84 overtime win over the Atlanta Hawks.

Rondo became the first player in NBA history with at least 17 points, 14 rebounds, 12 assists and four steals in a playoff game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Elias also tells us he’s the first player in NBA history to record a triple-double in a playoff game after missing his team’s previous game.

Rondo triple-doubles equal Celtics wins. In Rondo’s 20 career triple-doubles (13 in the regular season, seven in the playoffs), the Celtics have a 19-1 record. The lone loss came to the Chicago Bulls in the first round in 2009.

Including the regular season and playoffs, nobody has more triple-doubles than Rajon Rondo (20) since the start of the 2008-09 season.

Rondo’s seven career playoff triple-doubles are tied with LeBron James for the second-most among active players, trailing only Jason Kidd’s 11.

Rondo really steps his game up in the playoffs. He notches triple-doubles more than three times as often in the playoffs as he does in the regular season. He’s done so once every 34 games in the regular season, but once every 11 games in the playoffs.

Per Elias, Rondo’s seven triple-doubles in his first 75 playoff games is tied with Kidd for the fourth-most in NBA history. Only Magic Johnson (18), Wilt Chamberlain (8) and Oscar Robertson (8) had more in their first 75 playoff games.

Only five players in NBA history have more than Rondo's seven career playoff triple-doubles. Magic Johnson (30) is the all-time leader in that category.

Rondo has etched his name in playoff lore by joining an elite list of NBA all-time greats.

OTHER CELTICS NOTES FROM GAME 3
• Paul Pierce was 14-of-14 on free throw attempts. Only three times in the past 20 seasons has a Celtic made all of his free throws with at least 14 attempts, and it was Pierce each of those three times.

• Ray Allen came off the bench for the first time in a playoff game. He had started his first 110 career playoff games.

• The Celtics have won nine of their 10 playoff series against the Hawks, with the Hawks’ only series victory coming in the 1958 NBA Finals while the team was located in St. Louis. According to Elias, Boston’s .900 winning percentage in playoff series against the Hawks is the highest any team has over another in NBA history (minimum six series).