3 Takeaways From Heat-Pacers
The Miami Heat are advancing to the Eastern Conference semifinals after completing the sweep of the Indiana Pacers.
The Heat won Game 4 99-87 and now await the winner of the Milwaukee Bucks and Orlando Magic series.
Here are the 3 biggest takeaways from the finale of this Eastern Conference first round matchup.
1. Second chance points carry the Heat
The Heat shot 26.7% from three-point range and only attempted 14 free throws, but they were still able to come out victorious due to their dominance on the glass, as their 17 offensive rebounds helped carry them to victory.
Miami won the rebounding battle in three of the four games this series but could see that advantage turned against them against a bigger Bucks team in the next round.
2. The difference in benches
The Indiana Pacers saw four of their starters score in double figures, but only got three points from the bench in this loss.
That is a stark difference to the 40 points the Heat got from their bench, led by 16 points from rookie Tyler Herro and 11 points from Kelly Olynyk.
Coming into Game 4, Herro was the Heat's third leading scorer for the series with 16.7 points per game.
3. Goran Dragic's continued dominance
If there was a catalyst for the Heat this series, it was veteran point guard Goran Dragic.
Dragic completed this series scoring at least 20 points in every game, finishing the swep with 23-point performance in Game 4.
For the series, Dragic averaged 22.7 points per game while making 12 three-pointers across four games.