warriors vs pacers preview
Indiana Pacers (46-13) vs Golden State Warriors (36-24)
Tip-off: Tuesday, March 4th, 2014 – 4:00 PM PST
Location: Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN
Spread: Indiana (-5) meaning Pacers are 5-point favorites
TV: CSN Bay Area | Radio: KNBR 680 AM
Livetweet: @LetsGoWarriors (by @kingofmyworld19)
Last Game / Streak:
IND– Won 94-91 at UTAH in Utah, Won 5 straight games
GSW – Lost 104-98 at TOR in Toronto, Lost 1 straight game
Probable Starting Lineups:
Warriors:
PG: Stephen Curry (23.5 PPG, 9.2 APG, 4.6 RPG)
SG: Klay Thompson (19.1 PPG, 2.5 APG, 3.1 RPG)
SF: Andre Iguodala (9.9 PPG, 4.8 APG, 4.2 RPG)
PF: David Lee (19.2 PPG, 2.3 APG, 9.9 RPG)
C: Andrew Bogut (8.0 PPG, 1.6 APG, 10.3 RPG)
Pacers:
PG: George Hill (10.9 PPG, 3.5 APG, 3.7 RPG)
SG: Lance Stephenson (14.2 PPG, 5.1 APG, 7.4 RPG)
SF: Paul George (22.6 PPG, 3.5 APG, 6.4 RPG)
PF: David West (13.9 PPG, 2.9 APG, 6.6 RPG)
C: Roy Hibbert (11.5 PPG, 1.3 APG, 7.5 RPG)
The Warriors look to bounce back Tuesday night against the NBA’s best team, the Pacers. Golden State lost a very tough game on the road on Sunday to the Toronto Raptors.
Thompson will also look to bounce back in this game. The Warriors will also have Jermaine O’Neal back after a passport issue.
The Pacers, however, have been on a roll, as they’ve been almost all season. They have won five straight games, including a recent 94-91 win over the Utah Jazz.
The newly acquired Evan Turner will look to play a huge role as well, especially against his good friend and former teammate, Iguodala.
The Warriors haven’t won in Indianapolis in seven years. Monte Poole of CSN Bay Area:
The Warriors (36-24) haven’t won there in more than seven years, and they usually don’t come close. The Pacers typically sprint to fast starts and cruise to victory; they’ve averaged 31.2 first-quarter points against the Warriors in the last five meetings in Indianapolis.
.
The Pacers, by the way, have never been as good as they have been this season. At 46-13, they own the best record in the NBA – and the No. 1 defense.
.
It’s quite the challenge for a Warriors team coming off a loss to the Raptors in Toronto on Sunday. Having split the first four games of the six-game road trip, they must beat the Pacers and win at Boston on Wednesday to achieve a winning record.
.
“Two and oh, that’s the only thing we can worry about at this point – 2-0,” Stephen Curry said after the loss at Toronto. “(If we) go 4-2 on the trip and we’re good. That’s the mission. Obviously Indiana is a tough place to win a game and so is Boston.
The last time the Warriors visited the Pacers, this happened:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_tgRnnVD5g&w=420&h=315]Mathew Muncy of InkOnIndy writes:
Bench play will be a big factor tonight, especially for the Pacers. Turner is averaging 11.5 points and 4.8 rebounds in the four games he played with Indiana. Ian Mahinmi has played better since the acquisition of Andrew Bynum and it appears Luis Scola found his jumper.
.
With the Pacers seemingly firing on all cylinders again, this game will be a solid test to see where they are against tougher competition. It will be a high scoring affair, coming down to which defense has the better game tonight and we all know what kind of defense you can expect from the Pacers in crunch time.
[NOTE: Poor Man’s Commish]
Follow @DubsPlayLoud
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
