Pacers ride offensive wave, beat Heat going away

Throughout the playoffs, the Indiana Pacers have shown their might as the top defensive team in the league. One night, they had picked apart Washington's schemes and held the team to an NBA season-low 63 points. And though it took some time, they also figured out how to defend Atlanta's stretch offense.

So, even while Indiana stumbled with inconsistencies, the defense has at least been on the record as showing up. There hasn't been, however, an indication of this – an offensive gem in which the Pacers never trailed, all five starters made their marks in various stages and 100 points scored with more than five minutes remaining.

The Pacers took the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals on Sunday against the Miami Heat, doing so with a 107-96 victory. Behind an execution so fine, the Pacers made 51.5 percent of their shots and even opened a 19-point lead over the well-rested champs. Previously in this postseason, the Pacers had struggled to surpass the 80-point plateau – Game 5 against Washington was a particularly low point in franchise history – but Sunday, the moment or even the opponent brought out the best offensive display of the Pacers' 2013-14 playoff run.

Since 1995, the home team has won Game 1 of the conference finals 25 times. Of that sample, 21 have gone on to win the series.

"Really liked the offensive balance from our starters in particular," Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. "We're just being aggressive off the bounce, trying to attack, force help, and then share it. It's a pretty simple plan. It's not always easiest to execute, but I thought our guys executed pretty well offensively tonight."

George Hill, who scored 15 points, knocked down a trio of 3-pointers in the first quarter while the Pacers continuously tormented the Heat's pick-and-roll defense with ball movement and shot making. David West (19 points on 8-of-11 shooting) and Roy Hibbert (19) bullied from the inside.

Paul George effortlessly floated between facilitator and scorer for 24 points and seven assists and Lance Stephenson stayed in control of his emotions and steadied every five-man unit he played with for 15 points, eight assists and four rebounds.

Dare we say: Indiana Pacers, the offensive virtuosos.

"We just came out aggressive from the start," Hibbert said. "G. Hill did a good job of keeping the pressure on those guys early and David West and myself tried to do a good job of finishing in the paint and making smart plays. We went inside-out, outside-in, so we trusted each other."

Every time Indiana ran a high pick-and-roll and Miami closed in on a ball handler with a hard double, the Pacers' ball movement beat the rotation of defenders. Looking as if they played on swivel chairs and not tied together, the Heat gave up numerous open looks on the perimeter and Indiana gladly took advantage for eight 3-pointers. After the game, a reporter asked Chris Bosh where it all went wrong for the Heat, who allowed their most points this postseason.

"Isn't it pretty obvious? It seemed like they could pretty much score at any time," Bosh said, a bit salty. "Our defense was unacceptable."

Another obvious note: Bosh's refusal to ride shotgun in the Roy Hibbert bandwagon. Last year in the conference finals, Hibbert looked all-world against the defense of Bosh and on Sunday, he didn't shoot the ball well but drew the Heat's bigs into shooting fouls. Overall, the Pacers shot 37 free throws compared to the Heat's 15.

"He shot 5-13. I'm not going to pay attention to that," Bosh said of Hibbert. "The difference was they were plus-22 at the free throw line."

In the second quarter, the Pacers turned to Rasual Butler in place of Evan Turner, who missed the game with strep throat. On Sunday afternoon, C.J. Watson scored 11 of the 13 bench points, and the reserves helped to maintain the lead. And carrying the unit, a focused and attentive Stephenson who showed his best poker face through 41 minutes on the floor, the most of any player.

Stephenson, it seems, had some me time before the start of the series.

"I just watch myself sometimes in film and I just feel like I (am) doing too much sometimes," Stephenson said, "so I'm just going to play (with) poise and when I make something happen, I'll just keep the same face the whole game. Don't show my expressions."

Stephenson might have been stone-faced but he was also a playmaker, sharing with the assist or hitting from the field in five of the Pacers' six shots to open the second quarter. Near the 5:09 mark, Stephenson worked from the top and turned on a screen by James. Though he reactively jerked his head back to draw the attention of the officials, Stephenson did not stop to listen for a whistle. Instead, he kept with the play and pulled up for a 20-foot jump shot over Norris Cole. Then, within the final minute, when Stephenson felt James on his back – a mismatch courtesy of Indiana moving the pace in transition – he aggressively went into iso-mode and flipped in a left-handed layup around the bigger, stronger James.

As inconceivable as that might have been, then consider the ridiculous Pacers halftime numbers: 59.5 percent shooting overall, 66.7 from the 3-point line, 15 assists on 22 makes and the 55-45 lead, the most points the Heat had allowed in the postseason.

"We were hitting shots," Stephenson explained. "G. Hill started it off hitting big threes and then we played off of that. Then D. West started going and then Roy, then me and P.G. When we play like that, no matter who's scoring, who's shining, the game comes easy for us."

Later during the game, the Heat made efforts to trim the lead and it dwindled to nine points early in the fourth quarter. However, the Pacers repeated a rotation of plays, even some of the ones from a year ago that worked against the Heat, and continued to execute.

"We just talked amongst ourselves saying this is what worked for us last year and telling coach, 'hey, let's run this play because it worked,'" Hibbert said. "That's what we finished the game out, with those plays."

The Pacers saved one of their best examples of ball movement with 5:08 remaining in the game. Stephenson worked up top and sent the entry pass to Hibbert who bounced it in to West for the reverse layup. The Pacers had hit the century mark and reached an offensive high that has been lacking during the playoffs.

"We got off to a good start and set the tone for the rest of the game," West said. "I just thought our resolve to play our style of ball was where it needed to be and I thought we didn't back down from their pressure."

Call Star reporter Candace Buckner at (317) 444-6121. Follow her on Twitter: @CandaceDBuckner.