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Heat vanquish Pacers for 3rd straight season, head to NBA Finals after 4-2 series win

Steve Mitchell / USA Today Sports

For the third consecutive season, the Miami Heat have defeated the Indiana Pacers in the NBA playoffs. Friday night, the Heat dominated the Pacers in Game 6 much like they did in Game 7 of the 2013 Eastern Conference finals, toppling their would-be rival 117-92.

We say would-be because, while the team's have played a few tight series and have a general disdain for each other, the Heat now own an 18-12 edge since the beginning of 2012, including a 12-7 edge in playoff games and victories in all three playoff series.

It was ugly, it was hardly entertaining, and it may have been an unceremonious ending to what once looked like the East's next great rivalry. It was...thorough, to say the least.

Star Performer

Let's give the honors to the entire Big Three in what may or may not have been their final Eastern Conference game together. While none played big minutes, they managed to put this thing far beyond reach with surgical precision.

LeBron James - 32min, 25pts, 8-of-12, four rebounds, six assists
Chris Bosh - 29min, 25pts, 10-of-14, eight rebounds, two blocks
Dwyane Wade - 25min, 13 pts, 6-of-12, six rebounds, six assists

In all, that's 63 points on 63.2 percent shooting in just 86 minutes, along with 18 rebounds, 12 assists, four steals, three blocks and just two turnovers.

Turning Point

The Pacers led 9-2 after 4:08 of action. From there, they were pasted 22-4 for the rest of the first, then 36-21 in the second, and then 31-24 in the third. There was no turning point - the Heat simply took four minutes to find their footing and took off from there.

If you're aching for an X-factor in a blowout this badly, we suppose the return of Chris Andersen could portend good things moving forward. After two games off with a thigh bruise, Birdman played 13 minutes, scoring nine points with 10 rebounds and a +7 mark. The Heat are far more dangerous with him taking Udonis Haslem's minutes at the pivot.

Highlight Reel

Would you believe that most of the highlights involved a player on the losing side of a 25-point game? Meet Lance Stephenson (11 points, four rebounds), master of inane antics:

It got a little nastier than that, too, resulting in responses from Udonis Haslem and Shane Battier:

Of course, there was also LeBron:

Quote of the Game

Look, as much as this game was about the sustained four-year excellence of the Heat and their fourth consecutive trip to the NBA Finals, it was also about the continued antics of Stephenson, who gets harder to figure out by the day. Consider this collection of tweets from halftime:

Other Quote of the Game

"Any of the four Western Conference teams who lost in the first round would have beaten this Pacers team in a seven-game series." - Jeff Van Gundy

That one...might actually be tough to argue.

What Next?

For the fourth consecutive season, the Heat will head to the NBA Finals, awaiting either Oklahoma City or San Antonio, the teams they defeated in 2012 and 2013, respectively. Can Miami three-peat? Their chance to do so begins on Thursday.

As for the Pacers, where they go from here will be a major storyline of the NBA's offseason. The mercurial Stephenson is an unrestricted free agent, Paul George's contract extension kicks in and the team is already close to the salary cap. It's doubtful they spend into the tax, but can a back-to-back semi-finalist with little to feel good about right now really enter 2014-15 with the exact same core?

Obviously, the path for both teams requires a lot more ink in the days and weeks to come.

Series at a Glance

Game 1: IND 107, MIA 96 (Pacers lead series 1-0)
Game 2: MIA 87, IND 83 (Series tied 1-1)
Game 3: MIA 99, IND 87 (Heat lead series 2-1)
Game 4: MIA 102, IND 90 (Heat lead series 3-1)
Game 5: IND 93, MIA 90 (Heat lead series 3-2)
Game 6: MIA 117, IND 92 (Heat win series 4-2)

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