MIAMI — The season, its legacy, its reign atop the NBA was all at stake, and the Miami Heat responded in a manner befitting a defending champion — with a blowout.
LeBron James scored 32 points and grabbed eight rebounds, ailing Dwyane Wade matched his postseason high with 21 points, and the Heat ran away from the Indiana Pacers 99-76 in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals on Monday night.
In the NBA Finals for the third straight year, the Heat will play the San Antonio Spurs in a series that starts Thursday in Miami.
“They’re just an amazing group of guys,” said Heat managing general partner Micky Arison, not long after handing the East championship trophy to former Nugget Chris Andersen, who held it aloft as teammates standing around him celebrated. “They’ve given us an incredible season so far, but it’s a long way from over.”
It could have ended on Monday, of course. The Heat had alternated wins and losses with the Pacers in the first six games of the series, and was coming off its worst offensive outing of the year in Game 6.
Miami responded with a rout, despite shooting just under 40 percent, well below its norm.
“By any means necessary … we took care of business,” James said.
Miami led by as many as 28 points, a shocking amount for a series that had an aggregate score of Heat 569, Pacers 564 entering Monday night. The Heat actually trailed by six in the early going, were still down 21-19 after the first quarter and it was starting to look like it was going to be one of those down-to-the-wire nights.
Not even close.
James exited with 5:08 left. Not long afterward, security personnel started preparing to hold people at bay for the looming on-court trophy presentation.
“You never want to take anything for granted,” Wade said afterward. “Being here three straight years in a row, going back to the Finals, is an amazing feat. I’m just glad we were able to do it. Everything that happened in the first six games didn’t mean anything to us. It was about tonight. It was about Game 7. It was about finding a way to win here at home.”
Roy Hibbert scored 18 points for the Pacers, who got 14 from David West, 13 from George Hill and 10 from Lance Stephenson. All-star Paul George was held to seven points on 2-for-9 shooting and fouled out early in the fourth quarter.
“The great thing is we’re a young team and we are past the building stage,” George said. “This is really our first year tasting success. The rate we are going, we see championships soon.”
