Miami Heat eliminates Indiana Pacers in NBA playoffs - The Courier-Journal

INDIANAPOLIS â€" The Indiana Pacers’ lengthiest postseason run in seven seasons came to a cruel completion Thursday night.

The team â€" the same one that rode a surprising 2-1 advantage in this Eastern Conference semifinal series as recently as five days ago â€" now begins an abrupt summer vacation, 105-93 losers to the Miami Heat in Game 6 Thursday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

The Heat’s third consecutive win wraps up the series 4-2 and sends them to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second year in a row. They’ll meet the winner of Saturday’s Game 7 between the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers.

Certainly, the loss stings. But the season and its successes will provide a building block this franchise had been after for a number of years.

The Pacers finished the abridged regular season with the NBA’s fifth-best record, won a playoff series for the first time in seven years and pushed a vaunted and favored Heat group to six games, battling toe-to-toe with an NBA title favorite and providing some terrific theater along the way.

Indeed, the future appears bright for the blue and gold.

But on this night, the Heat's surplus of talent trumped a gritty effort from the Pacers. Dwyane Wade was simply too much, too quick, too accurate. The Heat guard scored 26 points by halftime and finished with a game-high 41.

Then there was the league’s MVP. LeBron James chipped in with 28 and added six rebounds and seven assists.

For the Pacers, David West played his best offensive game of the series, leading the team with 22 points. George Hill aded 18, Danny Granger had 15 and Paul George chipped in with 11.

Julius Erving strolled through the 76ers locker room as Philadelphia celebrated beating the Celtics to set up another Game 7 in Boston.

“It brings back all the memories,” the Hall of Famer said after the Sixers forced the first seventh game between the old rivals since he teamed with Andrew Toney to lead Philadelphia past Boston and into the 1982 NBA Finals. “It seemed like it always came down to them. … Coming out of the East, (it) was always Boston or Philly.”

Jrue Holiday scored 20 points and Elton Brand had 13 points and 10 rebounds on Wednesday night to lead the 76ers to an 82-75 victory over the Celtics that left the Eastern Conference semifinals tied 3-3. Both teams took the day off on Thursday to rest up for Game 7 in Boston on Saturday.