HEAT 96, PACERS 83
Miami Heat ends long skid in Indiana behind Wade, O'Neal
Jermaine O'Neal had 22 points and 12 rebounds against his former team and Dwyane Wade added 32 points as the Heat ended a 14-game regular-season skid in Indiana.
BY MICHAEL WALLACE
mwallace@MiamiHerald.com
INDIANAPOLIS -- The last time the Heat departed Indiana with a regular-season victory, second-year forward Michael Beasley was 12 years old.
His vivid memory from 2001?
``I just graduated from sixth grade and was going to the seventh,'' Beasley said Friday. ``Thanks for bringing back bad memories. I got my bike stolen that year. Dang, it's been that long since we won here?''
Not anymore. Beasley was among the assailants this time. Miami built a 17-point lead in the second half to swipe a 96-83 victory from the Pacers and end a 14-game, regular-season losing streak at Indiana.
The man who was responsible for delivering Miami much of its misery during that stretch also led the Heat out of its Hoosier state abyss.
Jermaine O'Neal continued his hot start to the season with a second consecutive 22-point, 12-rebound performance. He is the first player in franchise history to open with consecutive games of at least 20 points and 10 rebounds. Dwyane Wade added a team-high 32 points to lead Miami to its first 2-0 start since the 2004-05 season.
``I'm not a numbers guys, but I'm just doing what's asked of me on a given night,'' O'Neal said. ``But this means a lot. I was with the [Indiana] team here when we went on this long run. So this is special to help end it.''
It was a turn-back-the-clock type of performance on several levels for the Heat. Friday's performance for O'Neal comes after he had 22 points and 12 rebounds in Wednesday's opening win against New York.
The last time O'Neal delivered consecutive 20-point, 10-rebound games was in December 2007 for the Pacers. That came at the end of an eight-season run in Indiana during which O'Neal was named an All-Star seven times. After playing the past three seasons with debilitating knee injuries, O'Neal spent the entire summer pushing through a rigid rehabilitation process to restore his legs in addition to his overall game.
O'Neal received a mixed reception from the crowd at the start of the game, but was a full-fledged villain by the second half. He scored 15 in the second half as Miami pushed a two-point halftime lead to 17 points.
``We're all happy for Jermaine to play healthy, with energy and to be playing young,'' coach Erik Spoelstra said. ``It makes a big difference.''
Danny Granger scored 22 points to lead the Pacers, who shot 36.7 percent and were held to only 16 points in the first and third quarters. The Heat pulled away by outscoring the Pacers 30-16 in the third quarter.
The Heat scored 23 points off 16 turnovers by the Pacers to beat Indiana at home for just the sixth time in 40 regular-season meetings.
The Heat again won with team-wide contributions that extended beyond Wade's perimeter dominance and O'Neal's effective inside play. Beasley had 12 points and nine rebounds and Udonis Haslem added 10 points and 10 rebounds off the bench as Miami's two-headed platoon at the power forward spot.
The Heat played with the same offensive balance and efficiency that fueled Wednesday's 115-93 season-opening win against New York. The defense was also dominant at times, which made for as routine of a 32-point night as they come for Wade.
``It's rewarding to finally win here after seven years in the league,'' Wade said. ``We did it as a team.''
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