Miami, United States—The Miami Heat pushed Indiana to the brink of elimination, withstanding a furious Pacers rally for a 124-115 victory Saturday (Sunday Philippine time) in game three of their Western Conference playoff series.
Jimmy Butler scored 27 points for the Heat, Goran Dragic finished with 24, including five baskets from beyond the arc, and Bam Adebayo had 22 points and 11 rebounds as Miami took a commanding 3-0 series lead.
Miami forced several turnovers down the stretch to prevent Indiana from leveling the score.
The Heat led by 20 in the first half and by as many as 18 in the third quarter, but the Pacers pulled within two points twice in the final period.
But after the Pacers made it a one-basket game with four minutes remaining, the Heat closed with a 13-6 scoring run to clinch the victory.
Malcolm Brogdon finished with 34 points and 14 assists for the Pacers.
Oklahoma City Thunder’s Chris Paul drained a three-pointer as part of a 12-0 run to begin overtime as his team edged the Houston Rockets 119-107 after being locked 104-104 at the end of regulation.
The Rockets lead the series 2-1.
Meanwhile, Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said the status of Luka Doncic for Sunday’s (Monday Philippine time) NBA playoff game against the Los Angeles Clippers is uncertain.
The 21-year-old Slovenian star suffered a sprained left ankle in a painful game-three defeat on Friday that sees the Mavs trailing the Clippers 2-1 in the best-of-seven series in the NBA’s quarantine bubble in Orlando, Florida.
On Saturday, Carlisle said it was too soon to say if Doncic would be able to play on Sunday afternoon.
“I believe that this is going to be most likely a game-time decision type of situation,” Carlisle said.
“We’re uncertain as to his status. We do not have the diagnostic test results yet, the MRI results, so that will certainly have something to do with it, and mostly it’ll have to do with how he’s feeling.
“I wish I knew right now, but I don’t,” Carlisle said.
“We have good depth to play without him, but he’s one of the best players in the world, so if we have to play without him, it’s a big loss.”
Doncic insisted Friday night that the injury was “a little sprain” – not nearly as serious as the two right ankle sprains that saw him miss a total of 12 games in December in February, before the NBA shut down in March amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Doncic was grateful that it wasn’t his right ankle this time, and he even returned briefly to the contest after having the ankle heavily taped from twisting it in the third quarter.
He was clearly hampered, but did manage to record the first playoff triple-double in Mavs history with 13 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
“I could run but I couldn’t push off my left leg,” said Doncic, who finally hobbled off for good after returning for some three minutes.
“He didn’t further injure it,” Carlisle said after the game. “He just wasn’t able to move the way you’ve got to be able to move in a playoff game.”