INDIANAPOLIS — When these Eastern Conference Finals began, the Pacers were the inexperienced group full of untested and unproven young players on such a big stage, facing off against the defending champion Heat and the league’s MVP in LeBron James.
But with their season on the line and the Heat looking like they were going to engineer a fourth-quarter comeback and a third straight NBA Finals appearance, it was the Pacers who rose to the challenge.
After Miami cut what was once a 17-point Indiana lead to four midway through the fourth quarter, the Pacers went on a 11-1 run that put away the game for good and propelled them to a 91-77 victory over the Heat Saturday night, sending the series to South Beach for Game 7 Monday night.
“Boy, these guys made some big shots in the fourth quarter,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said.
A layup by James cut Indiana’s lead to 72-68 with 5:53 remaining in the fourth. But George Hill immediately responded with a 3-pointer. After David West added a dunk to put the Pacers up nine, the game all but ended when James drove to the rim against Roy Hibbert with 4:18 remaining and was called for an offensive foul after colliding with Hibbert who contested his shot at the rim. James then took off in a dead sprint to the other end of the court, where he continued to complain and eventually earned a technical foul. Miami’s bench also picked one up on the play, and Hill sank both free throws to put the Pacers up 81-68, and the Heat never recovered.
“I had to run down the court to stop from being kicked out,” said James, who finished with 29 points, seven rebounds and six assists. “I thought it was a pretty bad call. I don’t complain about calls too much.
“I thought me and Hibbert met at the mountain top. I didn’t throw an elbow. Basically, I went straight up. … I have no idea why that was called an offensive foul.”
The reason the Pacers had such a large lead early in the fourth was because of the way they took control of the game in the third quarter, a performance James described as “total domination.” The Pacers outscored the Heat 29-15 in the quarter, shooting over 70 percent from the floor while limiting the Heat to 25 percent (4-for-16), with everyone outside of James and Dwyane Wade going a combined 0-for-7.
“All across the board, they just flat-out beat us,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “In every facet of the game, they just flat-out beat us.”
The Pacers were once again led by Paul George, who continued his emergence as a star in these playoffs. He had 28 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals, while Hibbert added 24 points, 11 rebounds and a blocked shot, as he once again walled off the paint.
The Pacers finished with twice as many points in the paint as Miami (44-22). They also dominated the glass, outrebounding Miami 53-33, including grabbing 15 offensive rebounds that led to 14 second-chance points for the Pacers, who received 11 points, 14 rebounds and four assists from David West despite him playing through an over 100-degree fever.
Miami, meanwhile, was without Chris Andersen after he was suspended for his altercation with Pacers forward Tyler Hansbrough in Game 5, and again got subpar performances from Wade and Chris Bosh. The two combined to go 1-for-10 in the first half, and only a nine-point burst from Wade in the third allowed him to finish with 10 points on 3-for-11 shooting, while Bosh had just five points on 1-for-8 shooting.
Spoelstra chose to leave them both on the bench for nearly the entire fourth quarter, only bringing them back with 3:55 remaining and the game seemingly out of reach.
“They’re obviously a major part of what we do, and I need to find a way to get them in places where they can be really aggressive,” Spoelstra said.
tbontemps@nypost.com