The Big Plays
There were a few big plays in this game, but there were two that particularly stuck out on the offensive end in the waning moments. And on each occasion the Pacers had a four-point lead. The first one was a Lance Stephenson 3-pointer with six seconds left on the shot clock with just over three minutes left that pushed the Pacers lead back to seven. Then George Hill hit a 3-pointer as the shot clock was winding down with about 1:30 left. Also, Hill made a key play with just under 20 seconds left when he didn't foul Warriors sharpshooter Stephen Curry, making him take a contested shot that he missed to keep the Pacers lead at four points. Ok, so that was three big plays there, for those of who scoring at home.
The Ups
1) This was one of those games where the Pacers' defensive mentality was challenged. To hold the high scoring Warriors under 100 points is quite an accomplishment. There was a period where they seemed to get caught up in the Warriors pace, from midway through the third quarter into midway into the fourth. But they still had enough left to hold off the Warriors. For the game Golden State shot 41 percent, including 10 of 30 from 3-point range. That's a lot of 3-pointers for even a team like the Warriors to be chucking up. That's a credit to the Pacers' interior defense not allowing the Warriors inside, but it's also sort of the way Golden State likes to play. But the Pacers know that living at the 3-point line can be a bit of fool's gold and that defense is where the real treasure lies.
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| Pacers center Roy Hibbert emerged from a shooting slump to hit 7 of 11 shots from the field Monday. |
3) The Pacers also got a key contribution from backup center Ian Mahinmi. He had six points, but my favorite play by him was when he hustled back to tip the ball out of bounds on a potential Warriors fast break. Golden State got the ball out of bounds, but didn't score in the possession. One of those little plays that saved the Pacers a basket in a game where every basket mattered.
4) Lance Stephenson continued his all-star campaign with a 14 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. Along with the 3-pointer, Stephenson also had a key offensive rebound late in the game that put the Pacers lead back to six points. There's no way the Pacers win this game without a good game from Stephenson. And yes, the Pacers are now 27-2 when Stephenson has four or more assists.
5) Finally, yes, we'll give a shout out to the Atlanta Hawks for beating the Miami Heat Monday night. That puts the Heat five games behind the Pacers in the loss column. That's going to be very difficult for Miami to overcome. It's the equivalent of a major league baseball team having to overcome a 10-game deficit at the halfway point of the season.
The Downs
1) The Pacers got caught up in the home team's quick pace there for a bit. And even though that's part of life in the NBA, it's still something they need to learn from. After building their lead to 60-40 early in the third quarter, you could see the Pacers intensity drop just a little, and the Warriors then play with a bit of desperation. The only thing the Pacers could have done better in this game was to match the Warriors energy in that moment. It's the hardest thing for a road team to do against a good opponent and something you can be assured the coaching staff will mention.
2) Sometimes, I wasn't sure what the officiating crew was watching in this game. The moving pick is supposedly a point of emphasis this season, but Warriors center Andrew Bogut consistently got away with it Monday night. And that's a big deal when you have players like Curry and Klay Thompson on your team, who just need that extra split second to get separation to shoot a 3-pointer.
3) I don't know what the exact issue was with the playing surface at Golden State, but players were slipping all over the place in this game. One time fans thought Stephen Curry made an ankle breaking move on Paul George, but really George just slipped and fell. It was happening for both teams. I can't believe the Warriors players are happy about it either. It's something they need to fix immediately before a player suffers a serious injury.
Afterthoughts
The first thing here is the Pacers won the first game of a five-game trip. As Pacers forward David West said, it's always key to start a long trip with a win. It lifts everyone's spirits and then helps a team think anything is possible on the trip. The second thing here, is that the Pacers found a way to hold on after a big second-half push by the Warriors. Winning games like these is why they have the best record in the league. The win also extended the Pacers winning streak to five games, their fourth such winning streak this season of five games or more.
Next Up
The Pacers play at Phoenix at 10:30 p.m. Wednesday on ESPN. The Suns have been one of the league's surprises this year and a big reason for that is the contributions they are getting from a couple of ex-Pacers in Miles Plumlee and Gerald Green. Plumlee is averaging 9.4 points, 8.7 rebounds and 1.65 blocks. Green is averaging 13.4 points per game and the occasional highlight dunk, too. While the Pacers gave up Plumlee, Green and a first-round pick to get power forward Luis Scola, no one on the Pacers side is complaining about the deal and it appears to have worked out well for both teams, at least for this season. The Suns are led in scoring by guard Goran Dragic at 19.4 points to go with six assists. Also they have Channing Frye at 12.4 points per game, Markieff Morris at 12.2 points, Marcus Morris at 10.2 points and the recently signed former Pacer Leandra Barbosa at 10 points in just five games. The Pacers catch a bit of break here as the Suns are without guard Eric Bledsoe, who was averaging 18 points a game, before having knee surgery. The Suns come into the game with a 23-17 record, the eighth-best mark in the Western Conference.
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