NBA PLAYOFF RECAP (INDIANA-PHILADELPHIA) PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Reggie Miller and the Indiana Pacers have been around too long to be intimidated by a noisy crowd on the road. Miller scored 29 points and the experienced Pacers took Allen Iverson and the First Union Center crowd out of the game, cruising to a 97-86 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers and a commanding 3-0 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series. Miller got off to a quick start, helping the Pacers withstand the early emotional thrust from the sellout crowd and never trail again. He scored 13 points in the first quarter as he ignored derisive chants from the Sixers' fans. "With all the hoopla in this city, we wanted to get into the game as quickly as possible," Miller said. "They play well here. We watched them manhandle Orlando in their first series so we wanted to get into it early." "I was pleased the crowd was on Reggie a little bit," Pacers coach Larry Bird said. "That gets him going. We definitely had to have a big game from him to win this. He stepped up and made the plays." After allowing Philadelphia back into Games One and Two, Indiana repelled every rally. In the fourth quarter, the Pacers held the 76ers without a basket for nearly six minutes, widening a four-point lead to 88-74. The Pacers were poised, taking advantage of the younger Sixers. They held a 47-42 advantage on the boards and ran off their rebounds, scoring 19 fast-break points against their quicker foes. Indiana also shot 50 percent (38-of-76) from the field while holding Philadelphia to 37.5 percent (33-of-88). "I knew that our shooting was going to come around," Bird said. "Even though Philly made a couple of runs at us, we held them off. I don't think we've outscored them in the fourth (quarter) all year. Tonight we did. You've got to give us credit. That's as well as we've played in a while." Iverson also started quickly but finished poorly. He scored 32 points but shot just 13-of-33 from the field, including 2-of-8 in the fourth quarter, when Philadelphia collapsed and saw its 10-game home winning streak come to an end. "Some of the shots, 3-pointers I took were bad shots," Iverson said. "I got caught up in the game. I was trying to do too much. Rather than help us, some of the 3-point shots I took hurt us." Chris Mullin scored 15 points for the Pacers, who remained the only unbeaten team in the postseason and can advance to the conference finals for the second straight year with a victory in Game Four on Sunday. No team has ever won a best-of-seven series after losing the first three games. "We might as well try to be the first to get it done," Sixers coach Larry Brown said. "I don't like the way this game ended, with us hanging our heads. I'm proud of the guys. I don't want them to hang their heads with a bad taste in their mouth." "If we played like we did tonight, as far as rebounding and our effort on defense, there won't be a Game Five," Iverson said. After falling behind by 13 points early in the second quarter, the Sixers got within striking distance three times, the last at 77-73 on a three-point play by Iverson with 9:38 remaining. But they did not score again from the field for 5:43. As they did all game, the Pacers regrouped. Antonio Davis had a hammer dunk and Mark Jackson made a 3-pointer before a jumper by Jalen Rose pushed the lead to 84-73 with 5:53 left. After a free throw by Theo Ratliff, Rose, who scored six of his 10 points in the final period, made another jumper and Jackson scored on the smaller Iverson in the low post for a 14-point lead with 4:13 left. Eric Snow's three-point play ended Philadelphia's basket drought with 3:55 left, but Dale Davis scored inside and Miller provided the dagger with a 3-pointer for a 93-77 bulge with 3:11 to go that sent most of the 20,930 heading for the exits. Miller was 9-of-14 from the field, including 4-of-6 from behind the arc. Jackson had 11 points and 10 assists. Dale Davis had 10 points and 11 rebounds. Antonio Davis grabbed nine rebounds. "We're not a one-man team," Miller said. "It was Jalen in Game One, Rik (Smits) in Game Two and a lot of people in Game Three. We make it difficult for people to concentrate on one player because on any given night it can come from our starters or our bench." Snow had 16 points and nine assists for the Sixers, who had all five starters in double figures but got just six points from their bench. Tyrone Hill grabbed 12 rebounds and George Lynch 10 as they picked up the slack for starting 7-footer Matt Geiger, who had no rebounds. It was a playoff party in Philadelphia, with a pregame block party outside the arena and owner Pat Croce giving fans crew cuts. Inside, the scoreboard showed footage of "Rocky" and playoff footage of former Sixers greats Julius Erving and Maurice Cheeks. An indoor fireworks display left a haze over the court but it was Iverson who really was smoking, making three of his first four shots. But the Pacers hung in and bolted to the lead behind Miller, who outscored Iverson 13-12 in the first period. Miller scored eight points in a 12-2 run, including a jumper to trigger the burst and a three-point play and 3-pointer to cap it at 20-12 with 5:06 left in the first quarter. He added another 3-pointer three minutes later and answered the crowd's chants by making a pair of free throws with 1:16 left. After Geiger opened the second quarter with a layup to cut the deficit to 28-24, Indiana's bench fueled a 10-1 burst. A layup by Travis Best gave the Pacers their largest lead at 38-25 with 7:24 remaining. The Sixers made their first push, using a 12-3 burst fueled by five points from Iverson to pull within 45-41 with 1:23 remaining. Iverson made a steal but missed a layup and Miller dunked at the other end. Another dunk by Dale Davis capped the half and gave Indiana a 49-41 lead. "Once you make a run at them, aall they do is show a lot of poise," Iverson said. "They slowed things down and they made sure they got into a play and got a good shot. They played like an experienced team and we played like a young team." Iverson scored 20 points on 8-of-20 shooting in the first half as he got little help from his teammates. Philadelphia scored the first eight points of the third quarter to tie it before Mullin came alive, scoring eight in a 15-4 spurt that rebuilt the advantage to 64-53 with 5:42 left. Again, the Sixers surged, closing to 67-64 when Iverson set up Geiger for a dunk with 2:08 to go. Again, the Pacers regrouped by scoring eight straight points -- four by Miller -- to push the lead back to 11. --=-=-- 