The Indiana Pacers took off running on Saturday night as they looked to take back home court advantage against the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals.

After a wire-to-wire victory in Game 1, the Pacers stumbled late as LeBron James and Dwyane Wade dominated the final five minutes of Game 2. In the third game of the series, Indiana was looking to replicate their performance from last Sunday afternoon. With 3:48 left in the first quarter, the Pacers led 17-4.

The Heat closed the period strong, using a 10-4 run to trim Indiana's lead to 21-14, but Frank Vogel's second unit actually extended the margin over the first six minutes of the second quarter. The Pacers led 37-22 after a Rasual Butler three at the 6:22 mark. Luis Scola, who has looked lost often this postseason, scored on four of five possessions at one point. 

Vogel put Paul George, Roy Hibbert, David West and George Hill back in over a 35-second stretch, seemingly putting the Pacers in even better position. A strong finish by the starters might have ended the game before the half. Instead, Miami ripped off a 16-5 run that happened so fast the Pacers barely had time to blink.

Despite dominating the first 18 minutes, a four-point advantage was all the Pacers had to show for it. I can attest to just how quickly the turnaround occurred as halftime approached. After Butler hit the aforementioned three, I brought one of my six-month-old sons up to bed during the commercial break. I put him down and popped his pacifier back in a few times while remembering I forgot to pause the game. When I came back down the stairs, LeBron was just finishing a layup that made it 38-32.

In what felt like two or three minutes, the Heat went on a 10-1 run. The rest of the game unfolded much like that second-quarter stretch.

Game 3 was most entertaining in the early part of the third when the Pacers and Heat traded baskets and stops in a seesaw battle. Hill made a pair of foul shots to give Indiana a 51-44 edge, before Miami scored eight points in 71 seconds to take their first lead of the night. They went back-and-forth again until the Heat turned on the jets. The defending champions put together a 12-3 run over the final 2:40 of the period.

To their credit, the Pacers didn't fold after Dwyane Wade hit a three to open the fourth that pushed Miami's lead to 10. George hit three free throws on a possession with 8:37 left that cut the deficit to just two, but Ray Allen soon took over. The 38-year-old went 4-for-4 from three and scored as many points as the Pacers (13) over the final eight-plus minutes. 

The Heat won 99-87, scoring almost at will against the league's top-rated defense yet again. The Pacers now have their backs against the wall, where they played their best in the first two rounds, heading into Monday night's Game 4. A loss would mean having to string together three wins in a row against a team vying for their fourth-straight trip to the NBA Finals.

David West On Ray Allen

When Erik Spoelstra goes small against the Pacers he's taking a calculated gamble. On Saturday night, he hit the jackpot. The lineup matches up David West and Ray Allen, which turned out much better for the latter.

However, looking simply at Allen's fourth quarter numbers is misleading. Of the four threes he hit, two came on transition plays (both off turnovers) that developed too quickly for the half-court defense to establish itself.

Frank Vogel has acknowledged that West on Allen isn't an ideal scenario and it may be better than switching the power forward onto someone like Norris Cole or Mario Chalmers. You don't really want to dare the best three-point shooter in the game's history to beat you, but West can't keep a shifty guard in front of him. That would lead to defensive breakdowns that result in either foul trouble (on West or Roy Hibbert) or a different open perimeter shot when someone comes to help on Cole/Chalmers.

Roy Hibbert Disappears

This has become a trend, especially when he was struggling against the Atlanta Hawks and Washington Wizards. The Pacers force-feed Roy Hibbert early and then seem to forget he exists over the remainder of the game.

Miami without a doubt turned up their defense late in the second quarter, but Hibbert's touches were still troubling.  Hibbert had 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting in the first quarter. He played all 12 minutes and accumulated just one foul. Indiana led 21-14 and had a 14-8 edge in the paint.

In the second, Hibbert played a little more than six minutes without attempting a shot. The points in the paint were even at 10 apiece.

Hibbert played nearly the entire third and scored four points on five shots, two of which came on Indiana's first three possessions. The Heat won the battle in the paint 12-8.

He logged 6:36 in the fourth period, making only a baseline jumper as he attempted two shots. Despite Allen's perimeter barrage, Miami outscored Indiana 10-6 in the paint.

The Right George Hill Can't Stay On Floor

George Hill had a meager stat line -- eight points, two rebounds, two assists and four turnovers -- but was a +8 in a 12-point loss and the outcome of the game might have been different if the guard wasn't limited to just 21 minutes because of foul trouble.

There were a number of questionable calls against both teams, and I rarely mentioned officiating, but Hill's fourth foul turned out to a huge one. Having scored on drives to the basket on consecutive possessions, Hill was called for a charge as he looked to be aggressive again. It was a tough call, but one that should have either been whistled a block or perhaps nothing at all.

Hill was forced to sit less than four minutes into the second half. The Heat immediately went on an 8-2 run to gain their first lead. When he returned to start the fourth, Hill assisted on a George three and then quickly picked up his fifth while battling Chris Andersen for a rebound. He was forced to sit once again and the game was out of hand by the time he got back onto the court.

The Pacers absolutely need Hill to be aggressive offensively. His shooting stretches defenses and when he is penetrating effectively, Hill can attack himself or kick the ball out to an open teammate for a jumper.

Paul George Must Be Exhausted

Paul George is struggling to put up numbers in the Eastern Conference Finals -- 18.3 points, 5.7 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 2.7 turnovers in three games while shooting 38.1% overall, 35.3% from three and just 70.8% from the line.

Guess what though? George is being asked to carry the heaviest offensive load while also trying to guard either LeBron James or Dwyane Wade. He was primed to benefit most from the long layoff between Games 2 and 3, but then a concussion added to his general fatigue. George has scored just 18 points since he took a Wade knee to the back of the head at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in the second game of the series.