George scores 31 of his 37 points in the second half.
The Indiana Pacers secured a win in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Wednesday night against the Miami Heat and kept their hopes alive of advancing.
The Pacers staved off playoff elimination with their All-Star forward scoring 21 of his 37 points in the fourth quarter to inspire his team to victory and force a Game 6 against Miami on Friday night.
Coach Frank Vogel revealed that his team-talk centred around all of his players being more aggressiveness and essentially playing with a bit of desperation as their season was on the line.
George responded more than others with a crucial shooting performance and has at the very least postponed Miami’s fourth straight Eastern Conference title.
Four-time MVP LeBron James was limited to 24 minutes because of significant foul trouble, and he finished with a career playoff-low seven points, two rebounds and four assists as a result.
In addition, the Heat ended the game with 17 turnovers while they also lost the rebounding edge 45-38 in a disappointing performance although coach Erik Spoelstra conceded that they still had opportunities to win it.
Despite the loss they will undoubtedly be confident of ending the series back in Miami in Game 6, and despite their poor effort and James being limited, they still managed to finish within three points of the Pacers, and that will give them some sort of confidence heading into the next encounter.
However, the pressure will be on to close out the series, as the Heat will not want to return to Indiana for a series-deciding Game 7 which could prove particularly difficult to negotiate.
NBA Results:
Miami heat 90-93 Indiana Pacers
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