Miami Heat vs Indiana Pacers (113 - 83) January 19, 2010

Dwyane Wade's 32-point effort leads the Heat to a 113-83 victory over the Pacers.

Wade's hot start helps Heat blow past Pacers

By Chris Perkins, for NBA.com
Posted Tuesday January 19, 2010 11:37PM
MIAMI (NBA.com exclusive) -- The Miami Heat had no chance of losing to Indiana on Tuesday. Not when guard Dwyane Wade scored 18 points in the first quarter and Miami held a 17-point lead at the end of the period.

So it was no surprise that the Heat crushed the Pacers 113-83 at AmericanAirlines Arena. The big surprise was Wade ended with only 32 points, and that's taking into account he didn't play a minute in the fourth quarter.

"Unstoppable," Heat forward Michael Beasley said of Wade. "How do you guard that? He's too quick to play up on him. And he's hot, so you don't want to play off of him."

It was that kind of night for Wade, who went 12-for-20 from the field with most of the points coming against Brandon Rush. Wade's first field goal was a 3-pointer, and that started the onslaught.

"After I hit my first 3, I felt it," Wade said with a smile.

So did the Pacers, who were particularly listless on this night.

"We could have put anybody on him and he would have done the same thing," Pacers center Roy Hibbert said.

Wade ended with 25 first-half points, going 4-for-6 on 3-pointers, which tied his season best for 3-pointers in a game.

"He's pretty much unguardable," Indiana forward Danny Granger said.

Although the Pacers (14-27) are struggling mightily, it could be argued that Miami (21-19) needed this game more. The Heat, who hold the No. 5 playoff seed in the East, is locked in a tight battle with sixth-seeded Charlotte (20-19) and seventh-seeded Toronto (21-21), with eighth-seeded Chicago (18-21) not far behind.

The Heat visit Charlotte on Wednesday.

"Every time we play Charlotte it's always a game that goes to the end," Wade said. "It's going to be one off those games because you have two teams that rely on defense more than offense."

Miami never trailed the Pacers in Tuesday's blowout victory. Indiana, which lost to Miami by 34 points (114-80) when it visited on Dec. 27, never got within double digits after falling behind 27-17 in the first quarter. The Pacers never got closer than 17 points after the first quarter. The Heat built a 62-43 halftime lead by shooting 61 percent from the field and limiting the Pacers to 37.5 percent.

"They made every shot in the first half and we didn't make any," Indiana coach Jim O'Brien said.

Indiana also committed 12 first-half turnovers that Miami turned into 18 points.

Miami has now defeated Indiana all three teams they've played this season, which represents quite a turnaround from how this series went last decade. The Pacers have dominated the Heat since late in the 2001-02 season. At one point Indiana won 12 consecutive regular-season games against Miami (from March 2002-March 2005). Indiana entered Tuesday's game having won 21 of the last 27 regular-season games against Miami. And the Pacers beat the Heat in the second round of the 2004 playoffs, 4-2.

But now, Indiana is nothing close to that squad. Indiana's offensive trio of forwards Granger (eight points), Troy Murphy (11 points, 12 rebounds) and Mike Dunleavy (nine points) were 8-for-33 (.242) from the field for 28 points. Granger was 2-for-16 from the field, which greatly pleased Heat coach Erik Spoelstra as much as Indiana's .365 field goal percentage.

"It was a professional, business game," he said.

Notes: Indiana coach Jim O'Brien was wearing flip flops for the third consecutive game due to a broken little toe on his right foot. O'Brien sustained the injury when he kicked a piece of furniture getting out of bed... The Pacers were playing without guard Luther Head (sprained left ankle) and rookie forward Tyler Hansbrough (ear infection). It was the second game Head has missed and the sixth game Hansbrough has missed.

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