INDIANAPOLIS — Paul George scored 21 points, Myles Turner added 15 and the Indiana Pacers beat the Toronto Raptors 101-83 on Friday night to force a Game 7 of their series. That will be played Sunday in Toronto, and the winner will advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals. Indiana scored 18 consecutive points in the second half to pull away from the second-seeded Raptors, who haven’t won a postseason series since the first round in 2001. DeMarre Carroll and Cory Joseph each had 15 points for the Raptors.
Indiana trailed by as much as 12 early, never led until early in the third quarter and had to fend off a late third-quarter charge from the Raptors before blowing it open in the fourth.
After Toronto cut the deficit to 65-64, Indiana responded by scoring the last six points of the third and the first 12 of the fourth to take an 83-64 lead.
The Raptors never recovered.
For Indiana, it was a dramatic turnabout.
Three days after blowing a 13-point, fourth-quarter lead, they came out flat. The Pacers struggled to make baskets, struggled to defend and played catch-up the entire first half after Toronto took an 18-6 lead just 61/2 minutes into the game.
But once the Pacers got righted, they took control and pulled away.
Indiana rebounded from a 44-40 halftime deficit with a 10-2 run to take its first lead, 49-48 on Ian Mahinmi’s tip-in with 9:33 left. They extended the lead to 63-55 before Toronto charged back to get within 65-64 in the final two minutes
HEAT 97, HORNETS 90
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Dwyane Wade hadn’t made a 3-point shot since December, enduring a streak of 22 consecutive misses.
That all changed on Friday night with Miami’s season on the line.
The 34-year-old star hit both 3-pointers he attempted, including a big one with 46 seconds left, finishing with 23 points as the Heat beat the Charlotte Hornets 97-90 to force a decisive game in the first-round series.
Wade scored 10 points in the fourth quarter, including two 3s. He said he was “itching” to get some 3-point shots off after attempting just one in the series.
Luol Deng was 9 of 14 from the field and finished with 21 points, while Goran Dragic added 14 points and seven rebounds for the Heat, who will host Game 7 on Sunday.
of the quarter.
Indiana scored the next 18 points to seal it.
Sports on 04/30/2016