Chicago and Miami both took strangleholds on their Eastern Conference playoff series on Thursday, with the Bulls edging Indiana and the Heat rallying for a victory over Philadelphia.
Chicago beat the Indiana Pacers 88-84 to seize a 3-0 lead in their best-of-seven first-round series, while the star-studded Heat beat the 76ers 100-94 in Philadelphia to also move within one victory of a sweep.
Meanwhile, in the Western Conference, the Portland Trail Blazers clawed their way back into their series with Dallas, edging the Mavericks 97-92 in Game 3 with the help of 25 points from Wesley Matthews.
Photo: AFP
The Heat, led by their star trio of Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh, rallied from an early 10-point deficit to win.
Wade had 32 points and 10 rebounds, James added 24 points and 15 rebounds, while Bosh scored 19 points for the Heat, who will try to close out the series tomorrow in Philadelphia.
Wade was 12 for 12 from the free-throw line to help claim the victory over a Sixers team determined to avoid the sweep.
There was a scary moment for the Heat in the fourth, when James hit the floor hard, sitting for a moment and wincing when his teammates helped him up.
No team has ever come back from an 0-3 deficit to win an NBA playoff series, but Bulls coach Tom Thibodeaux said it was important his players didn’t get ahead of themselves going into today’s game four in Indiana.
Once again, Derrick Rose made the difference for the Bulls, despite the Pacers’ best attempts to smother him.
Rose’s 23 points included a -basket with 17 seconds remaining that gave the Bulls an 86-84 lead.
That was Rose’s only basket from the floor in the second half. He made just four of 18 shots overall as Indiana’s Paul George and Dahntay Jones kept him at bay with physical defense.
Rose, who averaged 37.5 points for the first two games of the series in Chicago, was able to make up the difference at the foul line, making 13 of 15 free throws.
Luol Deng scored 21 points, while Kyle Korver added 12 for the Bulls.
The Pacers’ Danny Granger had a chance to win it at the end, but was off with a three-point attempt in the waning seconds.
Chicago’s Ronnie Brewer rebounded Granger’s miss. He was fouled and made two free throws to seal it.
After surrendering double-digit lead in each of the first two games, the Pacers were up by five in the fourth period, but couldn’t finish it off.
Indiana led 68-65 after a layup by Jones with 10 minutes to play. Jones drained a jump shot over Korver to stretch the lead to 70-65.
Rose knotted the score with two free throws, then made two more to make it 72-70. A three-pointer by Korver stretched the Bulls’ lead to 75-70 with seven minutes remaining.
The Pacers closed to 75-74, before Korver drained another three-pointer and Granger knotted it at 84-84 with less than two minutes remaining before Indiana finally succumbed. Granger led the Pacers with 21 points.
The Pacers will try to avoid the sweep when they host the Bulls in Game 4 today.
In Portland, Oregon, LaMarcus Aldridge finished with 20 points for the Trail Blazers, who can level the series with a win at home today.
Portland’s Brandon Roy finished with 16 points and four assists as he rebounded from a disappointing performance in Game 2.
Jason Terry sparked the Mavericks’ offense by draining five three-pointers on the night. He came off the bench to score 29 points.
Portland built a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter then held on for the win to cut Dallas’ series lead to 2-1.
Dallas stormed back in the fourth as Germany’s Dirk Nowitzki nailed back-to-back jump shots to cut the deficit to 87-81 with six minutes to go.
Nowitzki also hit a turnaround jump shot with just over 40 seconds left to make it 95-90.
Nowitzki had 25 points and nine rebounds, while Terry finished with 29 points and seven assists in the loss.
The Mavericks’ Jason Kidd made a jump shot from near the three-point line with 13 seconds remaining that was ruled a two-point play.
Kidd said that his foot didn’t touch the line and that it should have been a three-point play, but the officials did not buy it.
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