Heat beats Pacers 90-79 to take 3-2 series lead

Indiana Pacers' Roy Hibbert shoots aagainst the Miami Heat during the second quarter in Game 5 of their NBA Eastern Conference final basketball playoff in Miami, Florida, May 30, 2013. [Photo/Agencies]

Paul George had 27 points and 11 rebounds for the Pacers, who got 22 points from Roy Hibbert and 17 from David West. The Pacers led by as many as seven at one point, but had no answer for the Heat in the third and now have to win back-to-back games - against a team that hasn't lost consecutive games since early January.

"I don't really know," Pacers coach Frank Vogel said, when asked if there's anything a team can do when James gets on a roll like the one he had in the third quarter. "He was pretty special tonight. There's no question about it. This whole team is special. It's one of the best teams that this league's ever seen and we're enjoying competing against them. We know we can beat them, but we've got to play better than we did tonight."

Haslem said Juwan Howard threw a few things in the locker room and had a few choice words for teammates at halftime - "a lot of bleeps and stuff like that," Haslem said - and that James echoed the same remarks just before the start of the third.

"We had 24 minutes to play for our livelihoods," Haslem said. "And that's how we played in the second half."

Haslem's first shot of the night was a complete brick, bouncing off the top of the backboard. He was perfect the rest of the way, including going 5 for 5 in the third.

For the second time in the series, Haslem - who has struggled with his shot for the better part of two years - finished 8 for 9.

"That burned us," Vogel said.

Haslem got past Hibbert easily and into the lane for a dunk that put Miami up 47-46, the first Heat lead since 4-2. The Pacers were back on top by a point with 6:58 left in the third when fighting words reappeared, on a play where George Hill was called for an offensive foul after getting caught pushing off on a drive. West angrily approached Chalmers after the play and both of those players, along with Haslem, got technicals when it was all said and done.

It clearly fired up Miami.

James and Haslem combined to score 18 of their team's 21 points in the final 6:04 of the third. Everything came on jump shots, including a 3-pointer from Chalmers, three jumpers averaging 20 feet from Haslem, and five more from James, including a 3-pointer with 16 seconds left in the quarter that put Miami up 70-56 and had him yelling at no one in particular as the arena roared.

"We didn't have enough fight," West said. "We stalled."