Heat Turns Into a Handful for the Pacers

Lamar Odom asked for a show of hands from the room full of reporters and television cameras.

“How many of you thought this series would be 2-2?” he asked before scanning side to side and not seeing a single arm in the air. “I didn’t think so.”

Odom scored 22 points and Caron Butler had 21 to lead the Heat to a 100-88 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night, extending its home winning streak to 18 games. Miami also evened the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series at two games apiece.

Improbable?

Sure. The Heat looked overmatched in the first two games of the series. It was the team with little playoff experience. And it was the team that started the season 0-7 and was 25-36 in March before staging a late surge and earning the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference.

The Pacers, meanwhile, were the team with the best record in the NBA. They also were widely considered the deepest team in the league.

Now Miami and Indiana are even.

But for the Heat to get out of the conference semifinals, it will have to win on the road -- something it hasn’t done in the postseason.

“A lot of people think we can’t win on the road, but a lot of people didn’t think we could tie the series up either,” Butler said.

Game 5 is Saturday at Indiana, and Game 6 is Tuesday in Miami.

Miami, which fell behind by nine points early, took control by outscoring Indiana, 23-13, in the third quarter. The Heat also ended its streak of not scoring 100 points in the postseason at 38 games, an NBA record.

Jermaine O’Neal, quiet for the first two games of the series, scored 37 points for the Pacers, and Ron Artest had 28 after scoring 14 in Game 3.

Dwyane Wade scored 20 points for Miami, which lost Brian Grant to a dislocated finger on his right hand late in the game. Grant’s status was uncertain.

“They played good, we played horrible,” Artest said. “It’s hard to pinpoint any one thing. I’m convinced now that they’re one of the toughest teams in the NBA.”

The game got rough near the end.

The Pacers were called for two flagrant fouls in the final minutes. Jamaal Tinsley was ejected after receiving a double technical with Eddie Jones. He was tossed because it was his second technical foul of the game. Artest received a flagrant foul after knocking Wade hard to the ground.

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Home Sweet Home

There is good reason teams fight to gain home-court advantage in the playoffs. Victories by site in the first two rounds:

*--* EAST Home Away ROUND 1 13 7 ROUND 2 8 0 TOTAL 21 7 WIN PCT. 750 250 WEST Home Away ROUND 1 14 5 ROUND 2 6 2 TOTAL 20 7 WIN PCT. 741 259

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