Thrilling, back-and-forth with a lot of ties, lead changes, one overtime and a final lay-up by a stellar LeBron James, Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals is booked to the Miami Heat with a 103-102 victory over the Indiana Pacers.

LeBron James found a lane to the basket with 2.2 seconds to go in overtime and with Miami trailing by one point, went for the lay-up and scored to beat the buzzer and cap performance of 30 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds and post his 9th playoff triple-double.

With 18 ties and 17 lead changes in the game, the two teams kept exchanging hoops, engaged in a wild shootout for 3 hours and 18 minutes of play, before James and the Heat cross the finishing line first with that final play.

"Welcome to the Eastern Conference finals," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "Back and forth the whole way."

Dwyane Wade scored 19 points, showing improvement on his bruised right knee that kept him back during the playoffs, Chris Bosh added another 17 points and Chris Andersen made a contribution of 16 points on 7-7 shooting.

The Pacers brought their A game to the matchup, with Paul George scoring 27 points, David West another 26 with an exceptional first half and Hibbert adding another 16 points. George was the one to save Indiana and send the game to overtime, after he connected with a 32-foot shot with 0.7 seconds left on the clock.

George’s miracle shot came after Ray Allen, sixth all-time best costless throw shooter in NBA history, missed a costless throw that proved to be big. With 17.7 seconds left the Pacers were forced to foul, the ball came in Allen’s hands and Indiana fouled probably the player they wanted to foul the least.

Allen missed the first one though, making it a 3-point, one possession game. And then Pacers star George made it happen, and the teams went to overtime.

The two teams kept exchanging blows till the very last seconds of the game. George made two costless throws to open the OT, answered by two made costless throws from Chris Andersen. Then Hibbert scored from close range and Wade got one back after a drive to the hoop and an easy lay-in.

Tied at 99-all, LeBron James scored with 10.8 to go. Then it was George to come up big for the Pacers, as he pulled up to shoot a three pointer that would give Indiana the lead with Dwyane Wade on him. The officials saw contact, Wade was fouled out and George made all of his 3 costless throws to give the lead to Indiana by 1 point.

But it was James’ time to answer.

After a timeout to design the last play, Miami inbounded the ball with 2.2 seconds to go. James caught the inbounds pass, George gave him just enough space to move and James immediately changed direction to attack straight to the rim, get the lefty lay-up and put a closure to the thriller.

Indiana coach Frank Vogel chose to leave Roy Hibbert on the bench in this last play, making the winning drive by James look easy as the 7-foot 2 Indy center was not there to block him. Vogel said he wanted to see what Miami would do with Chris Bosh in that situation, but then stated that he would probably think differently next time. "I would say we would probably have him in next time," he said.

Despite the loss, the Pacers feel confident for their game and their selves, posing a real threat for the defending champions and making them sweat hard in Game 1. "Two great teams just throwing punch for punch," Indiana coach Frank Vogel said. "Our spirit is very high, very confident. We know we can play with this basketball team.

On the other hand, LeBron James was happy for the victory, he thinks though that there is room for improvement and adjustments as the series go on. "We're excited about the win, but we have to get better going into Game 2" He said.

The Miami Heat will try to defend their home court once more against a promising Indiana team Friday night.