ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Indiana Pacers at the Golden State Warriors, which was tied 50-50 going into the second half.
3RD QUARTER: Black Falcon One-Handed Windmill Putback Smash!
Klay Thompson helped spark a 10-0 run out of the gate after halftime, getting a three-pointer from the right corner as well as on the right elbow, after Draymond Green tapped away a bad pass by CJ Miles and Klay converted the run-out dunk.
After a Lavoy Allen got his shot blocked by Thompson, Stephen Curry got the rebound, went upcourt, and dribbled past Thompson, leaving the ball for Klay to drill the three, giving him 21 points on the night, as Curry added 13. Thompson put three fingers up in celebration and Pacers head coach Frank Vogel called timeout with the Warriors up, 60-50, and 9:56 left in the quarter.
At the timeout, the Pacers announced that Roy Hibbert who sprained his ankle in the first half, would not return.
When play returned, so did the #BlackFalcon:
//platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
//platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Harrison Barnes‘ incredible one-handed putback windmill slam of Thompson’s miss over CJ Miles have the Warriors their biggest lead at the time, 64-51, with 8:47 left in the period, a lead that was quickly trimmed to 66-59 after Solomon Hill drove the lane and got an impressive dunk, prompting Golden State coach Steve Kerr to call timeout with 6:34 left.
David Lee then impacted the game, getting a dunk on a slip with Curry, Steph’s twelfth assist. Lee added an inside bucket after an Andre Iguodala run-out dunk that was preceded by Lee’s smothering defense and blocked shot of CJ Watson‘s layup attempt.
After a baseline jumper and-one by Shaun Livingston, Thompson closed out the quarter with a designed play on the last possession, getting free in the right corner for a three-pointer delivered by Livingston with 3.1 seconds to go.
The Warriors took an 84-76 lead into the final frame.
Thompson was up to 28 points on 11-for-19 field, 4-for-6 downtown, while Lee had 13 points on 6-for-9 shooting. Hill led the Pacers with 17 and West added 14.
4TH QUARTER: Klay Gets Into A Groove
Thompson got another three-pointer out of the gate, thanks to a high ball-screen by Lee, and that became an inkling of what was yet to come.
Klay would score nine more points by getting to the rim and either converting or drawing free throws, later capped by another three-pointer.
One of the charity stripe visits could have easily been an and-one as the Pacers had the ball and, after a swing pass, Luis Scola had Draymond Green beaten, going left baseline. But Curry stepped up to take a charge and Scola got rid of the ball, only to get it stolen easily by Iguodala. Andre raced up court and made a nice pass to Thompson, who got hit as he attempted the layup, with trickled out.
In disbelief that he missed the easy bucket even though he was fouled, Klay slowly walked himself into a self-imposed collision with the stanchion, gently hitting his head against it in frustration.
Thompson’s three after that gave him 40 points, a swish off of a pass-back from a driving Curry. The pass by Curry was a bit off-target, but like a catcher catching a pitch high and outside, Thompson re-centered it after he caught it and delivered the triple. Vogel called a twenty-second timeout, with the Pacers down 98-84 with 7:27 to play.
The referees started to call some marginal ticky-tack fouls on the Warriors, as Green picked up his fifth personal on a rebound, reaching for the ball along with Scola. As Green walked to the bench, he stared down the official, then as the Pacers brought up the ball after Scola’s free throws, got called for a technical.
Lee got called for a touch foul, also on a rebound, after West coughed the ball up to Curry, Steph’s fourth steal. But after chasing the ball down on the Warriors baseline, Curry missed the put shot that he practices so often during pregame warmups, and Lee was called for the foul on the miss.
Curry got his own touch foul, his fifth personal, as he switched onto West and gave a little bump to the bigger Pacer power forward, who swung the ball to the left. West converted both free throws with 4:17 remaining, but the trimmed 104-95 deficit was as close as Indiana would get, and the Warriors escaped foul trouble to two of their most important players.
Steph and Klay teamed up for a steal on a bad entry pass by the Pacers, with Thompson picking up the loose ball and leading the fastbreak, leaving the ball for Marreese Speights to finish the layup. That made it 106-95 with 3:37 to go.
Speights and Curry combined to give the death blows to the Pacers, as Speights hit jumpers from both sides and Steph scissored through the Pacer defense for an exquisite and-one reverse right-handed layup, making it 114-98 with just 53.2 ticks to play.
A one-handed alley-oop jam by Speights, assisted by Green, was the knockout punch and the Warriors defeated the Pacers, 117-102.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
