Pacers slow down Steph Curry, hold off Warriors to bring home road trip sweep
In a game of runs, the Pacers stayed strong down the stretch to earn a 3-0 sweep on the road against Western Conference teams.
It wasn’t always pretty and certainly wasn’t easy, with wild momentum swings back and fort much of the night. However…the Pacers fought the urge to fade late, instead stepping up down the stretch to maintain a tight lead until Myles Turner splashed a dagger 3-ball with 16 seconds left to give the Pacers a five-point lead.
From there, the Pacers stayed solid, made their free throws and left the Chase Center with a 111-105 win. For an odd and interesting nugget, the Pacers remain the only team in the NBA that has not lost in the Chase Center since the Warriors moved across the Bay from Oracle Arena.
That’s cool, but this singular win was more important than maintaining an interesting annual streak. The more important streak is the five-game winning streak the Pacers are currently maintaining as the head back to Indy for a couple of days off before hosting the top team in the West, OKC on Thursday. Hard to believe, but playing the Thunder now is the perfect test at the right time.
The win over the Warriors was in some ways as odd as the Pacers Chase Center success rate. In the first half, the Pacers struggled to make shots as they had in Phoenix, while the Warriors were getting the bulk, well almost all of their scoring from players other than Steph Curry.
Curry seemed fine getting his teammates involved early while Andrew Nembhard stayed within breathing distance on Curry. Trayce Jackson-Davis had several dunks, Andrew Wiggins was scoring in the lane and Jonathan Kuminga was scoring all over the place as the Warriors took an early lead. The Pacers rallied back to finish the second quarter on a 23-8 stretch and take a 62-54 lead to the break.
The game certainly intensified in the third quarter as Curry started playing with more sense of urgency, but found Nembhard smiling nearly every time he turned around. The Pacers pushed the lead to 12 with two minutes left in the third quarter but let go of the rope, giving up an 11-3 run to the dubs.
The Warriors quickly assumed the lead in the fourth quarter as the Pacers reserves struggled all night. The main issue for the reserves was missing shots and not getting stops. Kinda how it works. TJ McConnell played his usual hybrid reserve and second point guard role but didn’t have a great defensive matchup. McConnell did make some big shots, including three 3-balls (THREE) when left open by the Warriors.
With the reserve unit struggling, Rick Carlisle tightened things up with Obi Toppin and McConnell supplementing the starting unit, but the starters came in early and went to work to complete what they started and all delivered, once again.
Myles Turner had the clutch, dagger 3-ball but also scored a team high 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds including the final missed shot by the Warriors. Pascal Siakam had to muck around with Draymond Green much of the night, but still ended up with his 20 points even if it took 18 shots.
Tyrese Haliburton made big plays early and late, finished with 16 points, 12 assists and 6 rebounds. He also had two steal, one of which was while guarding his ol’ friend, Buddy Hield. Hield had just entered the game, and Haliburton stole the ball for a run out with Hield chasing. Haliburton was able to dunk to get one up in their personal dunk contest.
Bennedict Mathurin didn’t score in the second half, but had a couple of mini-scoring binges in the first half to seize the game momentum for the Pacers. He also played 36 minutes and was quietly solid defensively, even when switched onto Steph at times. Winning always helps, but Mathurin seems to be figuring out and enjoying both the role he has with the starting unit and how he needs to play.
We’ve saved the best for last, because Andrew Nembhard was simply incredible in his effort to pester Steph Curry all night. A simple look at the results reveals how effective Nembhard was completing his task. Curry scored 10 points and 7 assists, making just 2 of 9 from 3-land and 2 of 13 shots overall. Nembhard also added 15 points of his own in the process. Some solid defensive highlights here from AKRiley along with this signature pestering with help D play late in the first half.
As much as Nembhard had to work to chase Curry all night, the helping team defense made it work which is also why TJD and Kuminga were open for scoring opportunities. The Pacers were willing to live with that and really, Wiggins and Kuminga were the main problems. Wiggins needed 16 shots to score 16 points, but Kuminga really kept the Warriors hunting for the win with a game high 26 points off the bench and 8 rebounds. Impressive effort, but not enough to thwart the Pacers overall plan. Assuming Nembhard can stay healthy, this game should give a boost to his All-Defensive team candidacy.
Nembhard and Co. will have an equally challenging defensive test when they take on the Thunder at the Fieldhouse on Thursday. OKC may not have the 3-point threat like Curry, but they can come at you in waves lead by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Should be fun and there is not reason to think the Pacers won’t be ready. Time off seems to set them up to play their best and they will need to do just that against OKC.