Warriors seal victory over Pacers with late run

INDIANAPOLIS – The Golden State Warriors went on a 6-0 run late in the fourth quarter to secure the 111-107 victory over the Indiana Pacers.  After starting 0-2 on the road, the Warriors have won back-to-back games to close out their four-game road trip.

“This was a great win for us,” said Warriors head coach Steve Kerr.  “Just gutsy given the circumstances.  Back-to-back and playing against a tough, physical team like the Pacers and to come in with no rest and to get it done.  That’s a helluva win.”

Six players finished in double figures led by Stephen Curry’s 24 points.  The two-time MVP, also recorded eight rebounds and eight assists, shot 7-of-21 from the field, including an abysmal 1-of-11 from beyond the three-point line. 

As a team, Golden State was atrocious from deep, connecting on a season-low 19.2% of its threes (5-of-26).

For the second straight night, Draymond Green narrowly missed out on a triple-double finishing with 12 points, 11 assists, nine rebounds and three steals.  Green has recorded 10+ assists in eight of the last 11 games for the Warriors. 

“I think in general we don’t need Draymond to score,” Kerr said.  “We need him to do what he needs energy wise but there are going to be some nights like tonight where we don’t make a lot of shots and if we get a few from Draymond, it might put us over the top.”

Kelly Oubre Jr. finished with 17 points and five rebounds.  It was the first time in five games that Oubre failed to score 19 points.  Andrew Wiggins had 15 points and four assists. 

The Warriors bludgeoned and dominated the Pacers inside, outscoring Indiana 66-48 in the paint.  Golden State’s bench led by Eric Paschall’s 13 points and James Wiseman’s 11 points.  Wiseman grabbed five rebounds in 18 minutes before fouling out.

For much of the night, the game was tightly contested with the largest lead being only seven points for both teams.  The Warriors had multiple opportunities earlier in the night to take a stranglehold of the game, but the Pacers kept hanging around making the game close to the end. 

The Pacers held a slim 58-56 lead at halftime.

Indiana overcame an 81-75 deficit late in the third quarter to tie the game 86-86 early in the fourth quarter.  After the Warriors scored four straight points to take a 95-91 lead midway through the fourth quarter, the Pacers got as close as 99-98 with 4:38 left.

On the next possession, Indiana’s defense was caught off guard when Green drove down the open lane for an emphatic dunk that would ignite Golden State’s late run to ice the game away.

Malcolm Brogdan scored a team-high 24 points on 10-of-20 shooting for the Pacers, he played in his first game since Feb. 17.  Domatas Sabonis scored 17 points and had 16 of Indiana’s 39 rebounds. 

“We played hard, we just didn’t make baskets at the end,” said Myles Turner.

Following tonight’s win, the Warriors return to San Francisco to take on the Charlotte Hornets on Friday night at Chase Center. 

Photo by Warriors/Twitter

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