Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images
The Golden State Warriors fell Monday night to the Indiana Pacers by a score of 102-93. After the first half, which seemed destined to become a Pacers route, the Warriors made it interesting.
Coming out of the first half, the Pacers held a 13-point lead over the Warriors. A quick 7-0 run swelled their lead to 20 points. After calling a timeout, the Warriors came onto the court with a different attitude. Answering the Pacers run with a 7-0 run of their own, the Warriors reduced the deficit to 13 points. After starting the half missing two shots, the Warriors would make nine of their next 10, and bring the ball game back within eight.
Going into the fourth quarter with the same lead, the Pacers looked to jump out to another early quarter lead, but were met with back and forth scoring for much of the start of the final period. With the lead not budging, Klay Thompson (17 points on 5 of 10 shooting behind the arc) came out of a timeout with about five minutes remaining and nailed 3-pointer, shooting energy back into the crowd at Oracle.
After Thompson’s three, David Lee (20 points, 12 rebounds) drove to the basket drawing the foul on Roy Hibbert, and converted his first-two free throws of the night.
Despite the Dubs’ best efforts, 45 seconds later, the Pacers were back to a seven-point lead. From that point on, the two teams would exchange buckets until the Pacers finally pulled away after a missed 3-point attempt by Steph Curry (24 points, nine assists) on a fast break with 15 seconds left.
Despite losing to the team with the NBA’s best record so far, things could have been much worse for the Warriors. With about four and a half minutes left in the fourth, Andrew Bogut went to the bench and received treatment for what appeared to be a knee injury. Luckily for the Warriors, he returned after a very short visit to the locker room, and was able to finish out the last two and a half minutes of the game.
The Warriors will now have a three-day break until they play Friday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Warriors have now lost four of their last six games after winning the first six of a seven game road trip that started in late December. Hopefully on Friday night we can see the Warriors pull out a victory against a team who struggles on the defensive end of the court.
By Andrew Montanye (@iDREWiT_uP)