Basketball On The Internet.

LET'S explore a numbers game to best explain how Miami today dismantled the Pacers in Indiana to take a 2-1 lead in their Eastern Conference Final, winning back "serve".

The biggest, of course, was 114-96, the final score but here are two others - the Heat have not lost two games in succession since January 8-10 in Indiana and Portland, and are now 5-0 on the road in the playoffs. (They are the first, by the way, to win all of those by double digits, too.)

Miami had 70 points at halftime. That's 70. In the previous two games, they had 84 total points in the first halves.

The previous Heat record for points in any half of a playoff game was 68 against the Bulls on April 24, 2006.

The last team to score 70 in a playoff half was Golden State Warriors against Utah Jazz on May 11, 2007.

Miami's previous highest-scoring half this season was 60 in the second half of Game 2 against the Bulls in the semi final round, their previous highest-scoring first half 55 in the same game.

It was an absolutely sizzling start, the teams opening by shooting at a combined 16-of-20 - the Heat 9-of-11, the Pacers 7-of-9.

Given Indiana's defensive reputation and Miami's penchant for stepping up its D, it was an unexpectedly high-scoring first quarter, the Heat ahead 34-30.

And there were dramatic and spectacular moments, such as Dwyane Wade's dunk on Roy Hibbert in the second quarter, Udonis Haslem's first six shots all putting points on the board, Chris Andersen's first three shots to give him 15 consecutive playoff baskets from the field (a streak the Birdman extended to 16 in the second half).

Even Ray Allen stuck a triple to end the second quarter, giving Miami a franchise record for points in any playoff half.

And how about this for a good number? The Heat had only one first-half turnover. (They would finish with a franchise-low five, Wade with two of them!)

Before it was over, Shane Battier had actually hit a three-pointer, LeBron James pulverised Pacers forward Paul George in the post and the Heat was looking forward to Game 4 back on the Pacers' home court on Wednesday.

Game 5 is Friday back at South Beach.

All those worries and fears about the Heat after barely escaping the opening two games at home 1-1? They're not so troubling anymore.

As for an NBA Final between Indiana and Memphis? Not really on the cards anymore, especially with the Spurs 3-0 ahead in the West.

Back to those numbers.

The Pacers had entered Game 3 with a 6-0 postseason home record, outscoring their opponents by 14 points per game. Oh well.

James didn't even have to be superhuman for a change, finishing with 22 points, albeit 18 of them in that epic first half.

Wade had 18 points and eight assists, Haslem was the shock factor with 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting, while Chris Bosh added 15.

David West led the Pacers with 21 points, Hibbert with a 20-point, 17-rebound double.

"It doesn't matter where they're playing, they're one of the all-time teams," Indiana coach Frank Vogel said of Miami. Not too many exiting the Fieldhouse today were disagreeing.

MIAMI guard Dwyane Wade was slapped with a post-Game 2 Flagrant Foul 1 by the NBA for landing a blow to the head of Pacers guard Lance Stephenson in an incident missed by all three officials.

If Wade had been called for a Flagrant 1 foul during the Heat's 93-97 loss at AmericanAirlines Arena, Indiana, in possession at the time, would have had two free throws.

Under the NBA's postseason penalty system for flagrant fouls, a player is automatically suspended when he reaches four flagrant "points" with one point for a Flagrant 1 foul and two for a Flagrant 2 foul.

The points carry over from round to round, the only other Heat player with a postseason point in the system being Mario Chalmers for a Flagrant 1 foul against the Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference semi final.

"We think it was just a play that happens sometimes during a game,'' Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of the incident.

Of the retroactive decision, Spoelstra said: "Take it for what it is. We can't control what the league decides, so you just have to move on."