Danny Granger leads Indiana Pacers to a 102-78 rout over the Golden State Warriors - NBA Recap
Indiana Pacers trounced the visiting Golden State Warriors, 102-78 and sent a clear message to Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat that they are not running alone in Eastern Conference. The Pacers were looking to set a tone after the
All-Star weekend and they did gather the impetus from this game.
With 6 players hitting double scoring figures, Indiana gave the Warriors no chance whatsoever. Danny Granger led with 25 points, while Tyler Hansbrough poured in 15 and had 9 boards coming off the bench. Roy Hibbert had 12 points
and 9 rebounds; Paul George chipped in 11 points and had 9 boards while Guard Darren Collison also scored 11. Power forward David West recorded 10 points in this game.
With 14 apiece from Monta Ellis and Brandon Rush led the Warriors while David Lee, who had averaged 19.3 points before this game, finished with 12 points and 5 turnovers in this match. Golden State had a poor shooting night at
34.1% from the floor in comparison to 44.0 percent from the Pacers.
The game was a one sided affair and Indiana claimed their strong hold from the very start. "We came out with a killer mentality and continued to play that way all night," said Indiana forward Tyler Hansbrough, "We came to play."
Pacers certainly did that as they went on a 10-0 spurt to start the game. The visitors replied back with 6 unanswered points of their own, but Indiana netted 6 more in a row and claimed a double digit lead 16-6 with 5:44 left in
the opening frame. The hosts were up by 24-12 with 2:24 in hand.
Warriors however shaved off the lead with a 9-0 sprint at the end of 1st stanza, ending it at 24-21. They scored the 1st 4 points of 2nd frame to go ahead by 25-24, but couldn’t hold on to it
as the Pacer came up with a 7-2 run and reclaimed their lead at 31-27 with 9:16 left in hand.
The away side strived to slash the lead but their efforts went in vain. They could only get as close as 41-37 but Indiana left them baffled by capping off the segment with 11-1 run. Pacers were leading 52-38 by halftime as the
Warriors recorded their second lowest 1st half score in this season.
"We wanted to come in and get the post-All-Star season started in the best fashion that we could, and we knew that Golden State was a very potent team and could score a lot of points”. Granger said. “So we just had to jump on them
early,".
Golden State had to face further embracement in the 3rd quarter as Pacers opened that period with a 10-2 run and took a 62-40 lead. The away side could hardly keep up with the competition and with a final 18-8 run, Indiana
capped of the segment as they entered into the last 12 minutes with a mammoth 85-54 lead. The trend continued in the last 12 minutes and the Pacers went on to inflict a heavy defeat on the Warriors. Golden State’s ignominy was evident from their coach Mark
Jackson’s statement.
"Tonight was embarrassing."
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