INDIANAPOLIS — It took the Indiana Pacers four months to secure home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
It didn't long for them to learn just how little it means.
The Miami Heat regained the home-court edge over the Pacers with a 101-93 victory in Game 4 on Sunday, tying the Eastern Conference semifinal series 2-2 with the prospect of two of the three remaining games (if necessary) being played in AmericanAirlines Arena, but the Pacers remain supremely confident heading into Game 5 on Tuesday.
"We're the third- or fourth-best road team in the NBA, and the first four games of this series has proven that home-court advantage means nothing," Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. "They split here; we split there. We know we can win in their building; we can win in any building in the NBA. We have that confidence."
The Pacers were 19-14 on the road during the regular season, trailing Chicago (24-9), San Antonio (22-11) and Oklahoma City (21-12) and a game better than Miami (18-15). It marked just the fourth time in franchise history the Pacers had a winning record on the road; each of the other three times (1998, '99 and 2004), they reached the Eastern Conference finals.
As the third seed in the East, the Pacers had home-court advantage in their first-round series with Orlando, but the Magic stole Game 1 in Bankers Life Fieldhouse to wrest it away immediately. That proved no problem for the Pacers, who recovered to win Game 2 at home and then took both games in Orlando before closing it out in Game 5.
They took home-court advantage from the Heat with a 78-75 victory in Game 2 and believe they can do it again in Game 5.
"It helps our confidence, helps us tremendously," Pacers forward Danny Granger said. "We've been a good road team all year, so the fact we went down there and got a close game helps us, but it won't be easy. We’ve got to win two more games to win the series with two on their home court."
Beating the Heat, of course, means containing LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.
The Pacers couldn't do it in either of their losses. James and Wade combined for 61 points in Game 1, 42 in the second half and 20 in a row in the fourth quarter. Then, in Game 4, James and Wade combined for 70 points, 43 in the second half and 38 in a row in a span of more than 13 minutes in Game 4.
While James has been consistently productive, including a monstrous outing of 40 points, 18 rebounds and nine assists Sunday, Wade has been the wild card. Fluid was drained from his knee drained the day before Game 3, according to an ESPN report, and he followed with one of the worst playoff performances of his career: five points on 2-of-13 shooting. With two days of rest between games, he came back to score 30 in Game 4.
There will be no more than one day between games the rest of the series, so it remains to be seen how Wade will hold up.
"The biggest thing is we've got to be more precise," Pacers forward David West said. "We allowed those guys a little too much movement, too much freedom. I don't think they felt us enough in terms of their comfort level. They just had too big of an impact on the game in total. . . .
"I thought (Sunday) was the first time they got easy stuff. Wade got some easy dunks, easy layups; LeBron, the same thing. Up to that point they had been fighting and scrapping and working for those."
A major contributing factor in both losses was the foul trouble of 7-foot-2 center Roy Hibbert. In Games 1 and 4, he picked up a fourth foul midway through the third quarter, and Miami took control in his absence.
"I thought it was a matter of when you got 7-2 on the bench because of foul trouble, that's almost a self-inflicted wound and they took advantage of that, particularly in the third quarter," West said. "We feel comfortable in our ability to go compete at a high level on other peoples' courts. I don't think our confidence is wavering."
In the Pacers' nine postseason games, the home-court edge already has changed hands four times.
If they can make it a fifth Tuesday, they intend for it to be the last.
