ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — The Indiana Pacers (23-19) were in town to face the Golden State Warriors (39-4), who welcomed back Steve Kerr to the sidelines as their head coach.
The Pacers were without George Hill (personal reasons), Ian Mahinmi (ankle), and Rodney Stuckey (foot).
The Warriors listed James McAdoo as doubtful (toe).
1st Quarter – Total Domination
Golden State hit five of its first eight shots, two of them three-pointers, to jump out to a 12-6 lead.
Paul George fumbled the first possession for Indiana and Draymond Green took it away, raced to the other end, fumbled the ball as well, but got it back and converted the layup.
Stephen Curry swished his first pull-up three from the right wing…
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…but missed a heat-check right after, raising his hand to claim fault for the early shotclock attempt.
But later after Solomon Hill missed an inside attempt, Curry got the rebound, outlet to Klay Thompson, and the “tic-tac-toe” was completed with Green getting the layup.
Draymond would miss a three after that, but Curry tracked down the rebound, found Green in the corner, who went cross-court to Harrison Barnes on the opposite side, who found Thompson at the right wing for three:
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Pacers head coach Frank Vogel called a timeout with 8:44 to go with that 12-6 deficit, but it wouldn’t stop Indiana’s bleeding.
Out of the timeout, Glenn Robinson III missed, Barnes rebounded, gave it to Curry, who raced upcourt to the right wing to setup a post play for Barnes. Harrison got it, attacked the paint with a lefty finger roll, missed, but tapped the ball right back in, although there might have been an offensive goal-tending call on that one.
After that, George and Ellis missed shots, Andrew Bogut got the board, gave it to Steph again and Curry threw a near-touchdown pass to Draymond, who couldn’t quite reach it but tapped the reception off the board, then made the layup while getting fouled by the smaller Monta for an “and-one”:
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The smaller Ellis didn’t have a chance like an under-sized cornerback against a big wide receiver, and Green did his bicep flex after the whistle.
Curry made another three aided by an on-ball screen by Bogut and handoff by Barnes, Solomon Hill missed another one, and Curry threw another touchdown pass to Green for a two-hand slam and Vogel called another timeout with 5:59 to go and the Warriors’ lead up to 22-8.
Hill didn’t like the non-call on the other end previous to that and picked up a technical, with Curry converting the freebie.
The Warriors kept steamrolling the Pacers, as Green deflected a George pass, started the break, found Klay on the right wing, who found Andre Iguodala streaking down the court for another dunk:
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Draymond added to the dunk-fest with a two-hand jam from the left baseline going backdoor, assisted by Curry, Steph’s fifth assist already.
George and Curry traded airball threes and the quarter ended on a whiimper, except for the fact that, just after the buzzer Steph pulled up from beyond halfcourt at about the edge or the center circle’s logo and made the shot, throwing #Roaracle into a freny even though the shot didn’t count:
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Curry tallied 7 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists and his primary beneficiary was Green, who scored 13 points.
2nd Quarter – Curry Show Makes Up For Lull
The bench unit couldn’t hold things up, though, as they gave up an 8-0 run to start, even as Ellis picked up his third personal foul and headed to the bench.
Marreese Speights was called for a Flagrant One foul as he collided with Chase Budinger on a drive, but also swung his arms down, which the referees deemed excessive.
The Warriors were also careless with the ball, with turnovers by Leandro Barbosa and Andre Iguodala, and Kerr took a timeout with 8:55 remaining as the Pacers fought back to a 34-26 deficit.
Bogut was reinserted for Speights, and that immediately paid dividends as he tipped Thompson’s missed jumper twice at the rim before the ball dropped in. This was after Shaun Livingston’s fadeaway jumper ended an 0-for-6 drought by Golden State dating back to the late first quarter.
Barnes added an “and-one” on a right baseline against Evan Turner to make it 41-29, but after two straight buckets by Oregon University product Joe Young, Kerr called timeout to regroup the Warriors, which held a 41-33 lead with 6:28 to go before halftime.
Out of the timeout, Kerr got Klay going with a designed play in which he cut baseline for a catch-and-shoot ending up on the right wing.
Later, Curry missed a right-wing triple back-iron, Thompson grabbed the long bounce off the tin, threw it back to Steph who found himself iso’ed against the 6’11” Myles Turner.
Curry dumped the ball down low to Bogut, who was now guarded by Young, Budinger came over to double, and Bogut easily found Klay on the left side for another triple.
Vogel called another timeout and the Warriors were back up by double-digits, 51-39, with 4:29 left before the half.
The Pacers made a mini-push as Solomon HIll scored inside, Thompson made a bad pass that ended with a Myles Turner slam, and George made an iso mid-post attack against Klay (only George’s sixth point on the night), but Curry found Iguodala on a fake look the other way from a baseline out-of-bounds play, Andre finishing with a three.
Then Steph dissected the left side of the lane on the bounce, finding Iguodala under the hoop for a dunk, and Thompson scored a layup on another baseline inbound.
After Budinger got a putback off a fastbreak miss from a Warriors turnover, plus a reverse layup assisted by Solomon Hill, Curry went two-for-one with a pull-up from beyond the arc over Solomon:
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Robinson III missed a layup, Barnes got the rebound, gave it to Steph, and Curry launched from halfcourt on the right side and the shot banked in before the buzzer!
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Curry celebrated with a shimmy:
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That gave the Warriors a 64-51 lead at halftime. Curry’s totals were up to 15 points (4-for-7 on threes), 7 rebounds, 9 assists. Klay also had 15 points on 5-for-11 field, 3-for-6 downtown. Myles Turner led the Pacers with 13.
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