The Miami Heat completely obliterated the Indiana Pacers 115-83 to snatch a 3-2 in the Eastern Conference semi-finals heading into game 6 in Indiana on Thursday. With the awesome twosome of Dwayne Wade and LeBron James combining for a massive 58 points, the Pacers were badly beaten at both ends of courts. Sadly though the headlines will be soured by the fact that three flagrant fouls were committed including a premeditated swipe from Dexter Pitman on Lance Stephenson. There will also be interesting repercussions post game regarding the NBA's decision whether or not to take retrospective action against Udonis Haslem, who has a crucial role to play in this series due to the absence of Chris Bosh. Haslem was lucky not to be ejected after what looked like a very deliberate attempt to get back at Tyler Hansbrough, who had earlier dished out a flagrant foul of his own on Wade.

To make matters worse for Indiana, who have now lost two in a row to the Heat, their starting forwards Danny Granger and David West limped out of the game with injuries. Granger's ankle sprain in particular proved to be crucial with the Heat only leading by 2 points, 41-39 when he left the court. Granger tried to play briefly in the second half, but was in far too much pain. However, fortunately for Indiana his X-rays have come back negative and he should be able to risk playing through the pain on Thursday.

The LA Lakers were bulldozed by an inspired Oklahoma City Thunder team and bullied out of the NBA Playoffs as they succumbed to a 16 point defeat. Despite a 42 point game from Kobe Bryant, the Lakers were dominated by their opponents on both ends of the court which resulted in a 4-1 Conference semi-final defeat for the 16 time NBA Champions. The Celtics had one of their more easier outings of this year's post season as they mauled the Philadelphia 76ers at the Garden by 16 points. The C's were led by none of their formidable four (Rondo, Allen, Pierce and Garnett) on the points table but instead saw the rise of a new hero in Brandon Bass who scored the highest number of points in a single quarter in this post season with 18, beating LeBron James record.

Philadelphia 76ers 85 - 101 Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics were led by an unlikely hero in Bass, through the third quarter, which helped them take a confident 3-2 lead in their semi-final game against the Philadelphia 76ers. Brandon, scored 18 of his career high 27 points, in the third quarter which proved to be an important period in the game for the Celtics, as they overcame a half deficit to turn the tables around. The home team dominated the second half, outscoring their opponents by as much as 19 points to claim a comfortable 16 point victory. Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett, made important contributions on the night as well for the C's, with Rondo securing a usual double-double (13 points, 14 assists) and the Garnett scoring 20 points. Ray Allen made his first start in this post-season but contributed with just 5 points in over 33 minutes  on the floor.

San Antonio bulldozed their way through to the Western Conference finals as they defeated the LA Clippers to record their 8th straight playoff victory. This is the first time in the 21st century that the franchise has won both their round 1 and 2 games 4 -0 and the last time they did so, the team went on to win its first ever NBA ring. Elsewhere, Miami took back home advantage from the Indiana Pacers thanks to a stellar performance from LeBron James and Dwayne Wade, who silenced the Indiana crowd with their individual brilliance.

Miami Heat 101 - 93 Indiana Pacers

One can never doubt the ability of superstars to overcome poblems, no matter how grave they may be. After facing scepticism from all quarters as to whether they can take on the Indiana Pacers on their own without the ubiquitous Chris Bosh, LeBron James and Dwayne Wade, responded emphatically by scoring a combined 70 points to give their team an 8 point win over their opponents to level the series 2 - 2. James had 40 points, 18 boards and 9 assists, that completely captivated both the audience at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse and their opponents the Indiana Pacers. Indiana coach Frank Vogel said after the game, "It comes down to this: yes, you can get the ball out of their hands and make other guys make plays but you get the ball out of one of those guys' hands and it finds its way to the other guy. It's not just like one superhero and a bunch of role players. You've got to worry about the other guy."

San Antonio rallied back from a 22 point deficit in the first quarter to win Game 3 by 10 points and take a 3 - 0 lead in their series against the LA Clippers. An initial burst was followed by a quick burn out for the Clippers who even provided the audience with a rare 8 point quarter. In the other game, The Oklahoma City Thunder took a step closer to making it to their second successive Western Conference Finals. OKC were thoroughly dominated by the Lakers till the final quarter surge from them, completely bamboozled the home team and forced them to hand over the game to their opponents.

San Antonio Spurs 96 - 86 Los Angeles Clippers

The LA Clippers started with an adrenaline rush taking a 22 point lead at the end of the first quarter but the experienced San Antonio team remained unfettered as they mounted a slow yet uncompromising challenge against the home team to finally win the game by a 10 point margin. The Clippers fizzled out after their brilliance in the first half which saw them capitalise over the poor shooting of the Spurs. But the third quarter saw the Clippers score just 8 points which is never good enough against an in form Spurs team that are known to give their best in the post season. ·"We did not plan on being down that much in the first quarter, but we understood that they were going to make a run early, and we needed to sustain. We've been through enough of them to understand that's how it goes. It was great poise by our entire team." Spurs forward Tim Duncan spoke after the game.