ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — Two nights after defeating the Suns, the Golden State Warriors (17-3) hosted the Indiana Pacers (10-10) at #Roaracle, a meeting between two superstar small forwards.
The Warriors were without Damian Jones (D-League assignment) and placed Anderson Varejao on the inactive list for this game.
The Pacers listed Kevin Seraphin (knee) as probable before the game.
Q1: Strong Start, Klay Heats Up
Golden State got out to a 5-0 lead, but Stephen Curry got a late call on him for reaching in on a Jeff Teague attack.
Klay Thompson hit a deep two late via line-drive release in the shotclock from the right corner after the Warriors ran the weave up top, but Paul George,/strong> answered with two straight buckets before Curry struck back with a three from the right wing.
Later, Zaza Pachulia got a tap-out on a Warriors miss and Thompson ended up driving the right side for a nice righty finger roll to make it 15-13, Golden State, with 6:55 remaining.
Then Draymond Green hit Pachulia in the pinch post and Klay went backdoor for two more points off the glass on a layup.
Teague then lost the ball trying to go into three Dubs, Green grabbed the loose ball, led the break, and found Zaza at the pinch again.
Thaddeus Young slapped the ball away, but Draymond was cutting and got the ball back, feeding a cutting Kevin Durant for an uncontested slam:
#Warriors @Money23Green sets up @KDTrey5 for the 1Q dunk pic.twitter.com/uY3RWZtKym
— Laurence Scott (@LaurenceScott) December 6, 2016
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Pacers head coach Nate McMillan took a timeout as the Warriors gained some momentum, taking a 19-13 lead with 6:02 to play.
Klay then got two more buckets: a left-to-right drive for another scoop, and a touchdown pass from Curry after George missed a jumper, perfectly in stride for a reverse layup:
#Warriors lead Pacers 38-27 heading into 2Q — @KlayThompson with 17 pts. in 1Q pic.twitter.com/AJY4ZsOepp
— Laurence Scott (@LaurenceScott) December 6, 2016
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Thompson nearly got a third bucket in a row, going reverse on a backdoor yet again, only to have the ball hang on the rim headed out, before JaVale McGee tapped the ball in.
That gave the Warriors a 27-21 lead with 3:27 to go.
But Steph and Klay weren’t done and, after Young tapped in a missed George baseline fade, Curry threw another touchdown past the retreating Pacers for Thompson’s 16th and 17th points in the quarter, yet another reverse lay-in.
Teague then missed a jumper and, Steph in full Joe Montana mode, found a streaking Andre Iguodala for a layup over Rodney Stuckey, with the harm.
Iguodala converted the three-point play and the Golden State lead stretched out to 32-23 with 2:45 left.
Ian Clark got into the mix, blocking a Stuckey jumper then going past Monta Ellis for a runner, McGee got another tip-in, this time on Curry’s missed runner, and Durant blocked Jefferson, leading to another Montana touchdown by Steph as he found KD ahead of the pack for a fast break jam:
KD block ➡️ KD slam
The @warriors hold a 38-27 lead over Indiana through 1Q. https://t.co/ONyjqizLzQ
— NBA TV (@NBATV) December 6, 2016
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To close the quarter out, McGee volleyball swatted Ellis under the hoop, then pulled down a missed runner from Jefferson in the lane with 4 seconds remaining, outlet the ball to Curry on the left side.
Steph squared up a buzzer beater from just past half court, launched, it looked on-line, but rimmed out:
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The Warriors took a 38-27 lead into the second stanza.
Q2: Chef Klay
Durant got the second quarter started by drawing a foul on Glenn Robinson III on a fade-away for free throws.
After a David West right-baseline catch-and-shoot, Thompson got past Ellis yet again with a scoop on a feed from West.
Jefferson then got swatted by Durant, but after a TV timeout, Monta drove as if going downhill and scored a lefty lay-in past the helping Warriors defense.
But Klay heated up, hitting a jumper. After Durant added an “and-one” down the right side past George and drawing the foul on Myles Turner, Thompson struck again.
KD was on the right wing and zinged a pass to the opposite court where Patrick McCaw sized up a three from the left corner. McCaw missed, the ball rimmed too strong, but Durant’s long arm was to snag the board.
He then lasered the ball up top to Klay, who drilled a three and McMillan called another timeout as the Warriors’ lead ballooned to 53-39 with 6:47 remaining.
Out of the timeout, Ellis lost the ball to Green, Draymond led the break, and found Thompson for the pull-up after the side-step:
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Then Shaun Livingston threw a pass to Klay, who pivoted on the catch in front of the Dubs’ bench and fired away for his 28th, 29th, and 30th points on the night.
UPDATE on @NBATV: 30 points for Klay! #NBARapidReplay https://t.co/aZhJNSENRH
— NBA (@NBA) December 6, 2016
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Steph celebrated from the bench by running into the tunnel and back:
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Steph was so excited after Klay's latest make he sprinted down the sideline then back up and down the tunnel pic.twitter.com/ag5fGONK00
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) December 6, 2016
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The Warriors bench went crazy and the roof of Oracle nearly blew off as Thompson got free again, this time on the left side, but he missed, as 20,000 fans “awww”ed.
Klay tried again to ignite the torch, but was short on an “elevators” play, wide open from up top, but he then drew a foul attacking Monta.
Shortly thereafter, Curry got a scoop past the Pacers and McMillan called timeout as the Golden State lead exploded to 63-41 with 3:57 to play.
Out of the timeout, George missed and Curry this time scored assisted by Thompson, then Green went lefty with a beautiful bounce pass to a cutting KD for two more.
Durant found Klay for another jumper, but Thompson and the Warriors weren’t done.
After a timeout, Iguodala missed, but Kevon Looney got the offensive rebound, then found Steph, who dissected the defense for a no-look sling pass to Durant at the rim again.
On the next offensive sequence, Curry drove and threw his body into the paint, finishing with a righty scoop.
Klay got mauled on an upfake from the left side for three more points from the charity stripe, then Steph drove from right to left past Thompson at the top and pivoted for a pass, and Thompson drilled another trey, giving him an incredible 40 points in the first half.
Klay actually had one more chance at points as Looney blocked Teague, but Steph’s lead pass was intercepted and the Pacers couldn’t get a shot off before the buzzer.
The Warriors took an 80-50 lead into halftime as Klay tallied 40 points on 15-for-22 shooting, 5-for-9 from deep:
This is what 40 points at the half looks like… courtesy of @KlayThompson on @NBATV! #DubNation pic.twitter.com/jE1EvE6S6w
— NBA (@NBA) December 6, 2016
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Green had zero points, but also 9 assists, while Durant added 16 points on an efficient 7-for-11 field.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @carmenkiew)
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