Boston ? The Indiana Pacers are so dominant that they keep beating the Boston Celtics with their backups.

The Pacers won, 108-85, Friday night, the biggest margin in a lopsided series, to take a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven matchup with a chance to complete the sweep Sunday on Boston’s court.

Indiana did it with 58 points from its reserves, compared to 54 by Boston’s starters. Substitutes Al Harrington and Jonathan Bender led the Pacers with 19 points each. Three days earlier, Indiana won 103-90 behind a 43-11 advantage from its backups.

“We have to remain humble and go out and do the job Sunday,” Harrington said.

The Pacers’ 27-14 road record tied Minnesota for the NBA’s best, so remaining humble could be tough after they beat Boston by 16, 13 and 23 points.

It didn’t help the eighth-seeded Celtics to return home, and even they acknowledge they’re seriously overmatched by the top-seeded Pacers who went 61-21 in the regular season while Boston went 36-46.

“They’re a much more talented team than us,” said Paul Pierce, who scored his playoff career low of nine points on 4-for-17 shooting. “We’ve got to somehow, some way, show some pride to come back on Sunday.”

Indiana played outstanding team defense, and outrebounded Boston for the third straight game.

“Their bench just makes you marvel,” Boston coach John Carroll said.

Despite the Pacers’ domination, Jermaine O’Neal said they weren’t toying with the Celtics.

“We’re just going out and playing our style of basketball,” he said. “Being 3-0 is a great opportunity for us, but toying with a professional team is hard to say.”

It was the worst home playoff loss in the Celtics’ history, a span of 261 postseason games since 1948.

Rockets 102, Lakers 91

Houston — Houston somehow found a way to make Shaquille O’Neal a nonfactor for half of the game, and a pair of late acrobatic baskets by Steve Francis clinched things after O’Neal finally became aggressive again.

The Rockets defeated the Lakers, cutting Los Angeles’ lead to 2-1 in their best-of-seven Western Conference playoff series.

It was a rare Game 3 loss on the road for a team coached by Phil Jackson with a 2-0 series lead. His teams, when given a chance to take an all-but-insurmountable 3-0 lead, have historically gotten it.

In this case, however, the Lakers got away from what was working early, and by the time they went back to an O’Neal-dominated offense in the final 12 minutes it was too late.

Francis had 27 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, Cuttino Mobley added 21 points, Yao Ming scored 18 and Maurice Taylor came off the bench to add 16 as the Rockets thrilled their fans in the first playoff game in Houston since 1999.

The series resumes with Game 4 Sunday.