James and Dwyane Wade. Wade and James. Two basketball titans, one powerful friendship, and a parade route to be determined.

The arrangement has been stressed at times this spring, by stiff defense and Wade’s achy knee, but the two found themselves back in perfect harmony just in time to save the postseason and their championship defense.

James dominated on Monday night, Wade joined him and soon the Miami Heat were celebrating their third straight Eastern Conference title with a 99-76 rout of the Indiana Pacers in an anticlimactic Game 7.

The Heat will face the San Antonio Spurs in the finals, which open Thursday night at American Airlines Arena.

Wade had 21 points and 9 rebounds in the finale, by far his best game, lending ample support to James, who had 32 points and 8 rebounds. The defense did the rest.

The lopsided finale left a skewed final image of what had been a highly charged, intensely competitive series. Neither team won consecutive games. And the Pacers came within 2.2 seconds, and one James layup, of what could have been a 2-0 lead to start the series.

Paul George and Roy Hibbert led the Pacers this far, beyond all expectations, but the task of closing out the defending champions proved overwhelming. George scored only 7 points in the finale before fouling out early in the fourth quarter. Hibbert finished with 18 points and 8 rebounds, but he was limited by foul trouble and largely contained all night.

George, who turned this series into his personal launching pad for stardom, struggled mightily, making one shot in the game’s first 31 minutes and finishing 2 for 9 from the field. Hibbert was in continual foul trouble, picking up his fifth late in the third quarter. George soon joined him on the bench, picking up his fourth and fifth fouls in the final minute of the period.

It hardly mattered. The game was already beyond the Pacers’ reach.

The Heat led by double digits for the entire second half, by as many as 28 points. As the third quarter ended, 19,000-plus fans chanted the bass line to The White Stripes’ “Seven-Nation Army” — the Heat’s unofficial theme song — a chorus of “oh-oh-oh-ohs” filling the arena.

After being outworked so many times this series, the Heat flipped the critical categories to close it out. They won the rebounding battle (43-36), outscored the Pacers inside (30-28) and buried them in second-chance points (22-12).

This was foreign territory for the precocious Pacers and their young coach, Frank Vogel, who had never presided over a Game 7. It was familiar, almost comfortable, ground for the Heat, who took seven games to beat the Boston Celtics in last year’s conference finals.

Still, Wade and James mentioned a lack of sleep, the nervous excitement disrupting their circadian rhythms. Bosh, who felt the need to apologize to his teammates for his passive play in Game 6, called the moment liberating.

“This is something that we all dreamed of,” James said before tip-off. “And if you didn’t dream of it, then you shouldn’t be here tonight, honestly. It’s probably the most exciting game of the year for me.”

Or, as Coach Erik Spoelstra put it: “You never remember the sweeps. It’s the Game 7s that always are etched in your memory.”

The Pacers turned the ball over nine times in the first quarter and somehow emerged with a 21-19 lead, which seemed like a good omen for them, if they could simply hold onto the ball the rest of the way.

That proved exceptionally difficult against a re-energized, swarming Heat defense, which forced six more turnovers in the second quarter, propelling Miami to a 52-37 halftime lead.

There were nothing but positive signs for the Heat. Ray Allen hit his first three 3-point attempts, breaking out of a prolonged slump. Chris Andersen slam-dunked a rebound in his first minutes back on the court after his one-game suspension.

Most critically, Wade and Bosh looked fully engaged and active, even if they were not always precise.

Bosh missed 7 of 10 shots in the half, but he scored 5 straight points in an 11-2 run as the Heat took their first double-digit lead. Wade had 10 points by halftime, including a nifty driving layup and a flying fast-break dunk in the first quarter.

After days of consternation about whether Bosh and Wade were involved enough, the Heat seemed determined to get them rolling early. They combined for 17 shots in the first half as the offense returned to a more balanced state. James dominated the box score anyway, scoring 18 points by halftime.

This was the formula for victory, and the Heat knew it. They have practiced it for three seasons, perfected it on their way to the title last spring. It just took a few more games than expected to regain their form.

“We understand that it’s hard to get to the finals,” Wade said before the game. “We understand it’s hard to win championship. And I think a lot of people have short memories. It took us seven games last year to get there. It took is a lot of moments where it looked like we was down and out last year, as well, to get there.”

When the banners are ultimately hung, no one remembers or cares how they got there.

REBOUNDS

Roy Hibbert, who was fined $75,000 by the N.B.A. for using profane language and a gay slur in a news conference, declined to comment at the morning shootaround Monday. Hibbert issued an extensive apology on Sunday, a day after making the remarks on live television following Game 6. Frank Vogel passionately defended Hibbert, saying he was “very contrite” and “feels terrible” about the remarks. “One of the highest character people I’ve ever been with,” Vogel said of Hibbert. “He made a mistake. We all make mistakes. He’s ready to move past it. We support him. We love him.”