Pacers fall on last-second shot, 98-96 to Warriors
By TYLER SMITH
ISL
INDIANAPOLIS — As the battle for the 1-seed in the Eastern Conference “Heats” up, the Pacers are entering a critical stretch of games on their schedule. With eight of their next 11 games on the road, a home win over the Golden State Warriors was needed. Stephen Curry and company had other ideas.
Though the Pacers had won five straight coming into Tuesday, those were mainly against sub-.500 teams. Every NBA team will go through struggles, but the Pacers will need to tighten things up soon if they want to hold on to the 1-seed that they so desperately desire.
Paul George carried the Pacers in the first quarter with 12 points and 8 rebounds. He finished the night with 26 points and 12 rebounds. In a surprising statistic, the Pacers dropped to just 3-5 in games that George records a double-double.
As they typically do, the Pacers opened the third quarter with stifling defense for an eight-minute stretch. This time, however, the offensive-minded Warriors were too much to handle when their offense picked back up. They shot 10-for-20 (50 percent) from 3 for the night.
The game looked all but over late in the fourth, as the Warriors took a 13-point lead. The Pacers went on an inspired run, tying the game at 96. David West led the Pacers with 27 points on 10-of-17 from the field, and his steal and dunk was instrumental in the Pacers’ comeback effort. It was also the loudest I have heard Bankers Life Fieldhouse all season long.
Curry turned the ball over with 46.1 seconds left. With that amount of time on the clock, the Pacers should have gone 2 for 1. Instead, they ran the entire shot clock and took a contested 3 that missed. Golden State then could hold for one shot, and Klay Thompson splashed the game-winner with 0.6 seconds left. He had 16 points in the fourth quarter alone.
Indiana coach Frank Vogel was asked if the Pacers are simply facing good shooting lately, or if the defense hasn’t been as sharp. “Probably a little bit of both,” he said. “I’m proud of our effort tonight. We just came up a little bit short.”
Tonight was just the second time all season the Pacers lost when two players scored 20-plus points (15-2). It was Golden State’s first win in Indiana since February of 2007.
The Pacers now have three straight on the road, beginning with Charlotte tomorrow night.
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