INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Paul George scored 21 points, Myles Turner added 15 and the Indiana Pacers beat the Toronto Raptors 101-83 on Friday night to force a Game 7 of their series.
That will be played Sunday in Toronto, and the winner will advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Miami also forced a Game 7 in its series against Charlotte as Dwyane Wade led the Heat past the Hornets.
Indiana scored 18 straight points in the second half to pull away from the second-seeded Raptors, who haven’t won a postseason series since the first round in 2001.
DeMarre Carroll and Cory Joseph each had 15 points for the Raptors.
Kyle Lowry (4 for 14) and DeMar DeRozan (3 for 13) struggled again, and now the Raptors will head home and hear again about their troubled playoff problems: a Game 7 loss at home to Brooklyn in 2014, Washington’s four-game sweep last season and no series wins in a seven-game series. And there 15-year victory drought is the longest active streak in the league.
Indiana trailed by as much as 12 early, never led until early in the third quarter and had to fend off a late third-quarter charge from the Raptors before blowing it open in the fourth.
After Toronto cut the deficit to 65-64, Indiana responded by scoring the last six points of the third and the first 12 of the fourth to take an 83-64 lead.
The Raptors never recovered.
For Indiana, it was a dramatic turnabout.
Three days after blowing a 13-point, fourth-quarter lead, they came out flat. The Pacers struggled to make baskets, struggled to defend and played catch-up the entire first half after Toronto took an 18-6 lead just 6 1/2 minutes into the game.
But once the Pacers got righted, they took control and pulled away.
Indiana rebounded from a 44-40 halftime deficit with a 10-2 run to take its first lead, 49-48 on Ian Mahinmi’s tip-in with 9:33 left. They extended the lead to 63-55 before Toronto charged back to get within 65-64 in the final two minutes of the quarter.
Indiana scored the next 18 points to seal it.
Miami’s Wade scored 10 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter, making his first 3-pointer of 2016, and the Heat beat Charlotte 97-90.
Luol Deng was 9 of 14 from the field and finished with 21 points, while Goran Dragic added 14 points and seven rebounds for the Heat, who will host Game 7 on Sunday.
The Heat overcame a playoff career-high 37 points from Kemba Walker to hand the Hornets only their 11th loss of the season at home. Al Jefferson had 18 points and nine rebounds, and Cody Zeller had 12 points off the bench for Charlotte.
With Miami leading by two, Wade hit his first 3-pointer since December with 46 seconds left and added an 18-foot turnaround jump shot over Courtney Lee to help seal the win.
The Hornets missed a golden opportunity to advance to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in 14 years.
They trailed the entire second half, never quite able to get over the hump and the Heat made timely shots and grabbed crucial rebounds.
Miami outrebounded Charlotte 46-31.
Walker gave it all he had.
The 6-foot-1 point guard somehow got an up-and-under layup to fall amid the trees, then hit a 3-pointer from the left wing to beat the shot clock and cut the Miami lead to 85-81.
Hassan Whiteside returned to the game with 4:20 left and immediately made an impact, scoring on an offensive rebound. But Walker drove the lane and drew an and-one with 3 minutes to go, sending Whiteside to the bench with his sixth foul. Walker then added a razzle-dazzle step-back jumper to trim the Heat lead to 90-86 with 2:12 left in the game.
After a Miami miss, Walker drove the baseline after for a reverse to cut the lead to two with 1:33 remaining.
After Deng shot an airball on a 3-pointer from the top of the key on Miami’s next possession and the Heat were called for a shot clock violation, the Hornets had a chance to tie.
But Walker, who was 14 of 30 from the field, missed a pull-up jumper.
Wade answered with a 3-pointer from the left wing to push Miami’s lead back to five with 46 seconds remaining. Jefferson scored off a dish from Walker, but Wade splashed a turnaround jumper from 18 feet over Lee’s outstretched hand to push the lead back to five with 19.5 seconds left.
Walker missed a driving layup and Joe Johnson added two free throws the seal the game.
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