Myles Turner and Aaron Holiday Go Off Against the Warriors
The Indiana Pacers came into this with a record of 6–4 . The Pacers were also coming off of a 127–122 loss to Sacramento on Monday, Jan. 11, this game against Golden State was Indiana’s second back-to-back of the season.
The Golden State Warriors came into this game with a record of 6–4 (same as the Pacers). The Warriors were coming off a close victory over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday, Jan. 10.
The Pacers ran a different starting five against Golden State because Victor Oladipo wasn’t playing due to load management. They started shooting guard Edmond Sumner who they got from New Orleans in a draft night trade at the 52nd slot of the 2017 NBA Draft.
The Warriors ran their usual starting lineup against Indy, Stephen Curry, Kelly Oubre Jr., Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green and rookie center James Wiseman.
The Pacers starters versus the Warriors were Malcolm Brogdon, Sumner, Justin Holiday, Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner.
Indiana’s injury report was mostly the same as it was before its game against the Kings, T.J. Warren (foot), T.J. McConnell (personal reasons), Jalen Lecque (ankle), Brian Bowen II (groin), Goga Bitadze (ankle), Jeremy Lamb (knee) and Oladipo (load management). Bitazde, Lamb, Lecque and McConnell should be back after this five game road trip.
The Warriors have a much shorter injury then Indiana but they still have many injuries. Klay Thompson (achilles), Eric Paschall (COVID-19), Marquese Chriss (leg) and Alen Smailagic (knee). Eric Paschall landed on the COVID-19 list on Monday, Jan. 11, while Chriss and Thompson both have season ending injuries which are two major injuries for Golden State.
In the first quarter the defense wasn’t the problem it was their offense, Sabonis couldn’t do much to combat the length of Wiseman or Kevon Looney and the Pacers couldn’t get the 3-ball to fall down. The Warriors had a great game from their bigs, Wiseman, Looney and Green.
The second quarter was much better offensively for the Pacers as they scored 31 and continued to keep superstar Stephen Curry in check and were able to do so all game because of their Box and 1 defensive scheme where either Brogdon or Sumner would guard Curry one-on-one and the other four would play a 2–2 zone.
In the third quarter the Pacers held Golden State to 18 points and the Pacers scored 23 which is good but not great. The Warriors had good minutes from players like, Damion Lee, Oubre, and Wiggins putting in work on both ends of the floor, with Wiggins having 22 points and five blocks which was a career high in blocks for Wiggins. Oubre added 17 points and Green notched 10 assists.
In the fourth quarter Golden State had Curry and Green on the bench until the 6:30 mark in the quarter after Wiseman picked up his sixth personal foul. The Pacers were down 90–88 and went on a 13–0 run to take an 11 point lead after Aaron Holiday was using his lightening speed to blow by defenders and either score for himself or find an open teammate.
The Pacers snapped a two game losing streak after defeating the Warriors in San Francisco 104–95, after Turner recorded 22 points and 12 rebounds and both Aaron Holiday (16 points and 12 assists) and Sabonis (18 points and 14 rebounds)had great games, Sumner scored 12 points and along with Brogdon played great defense on Curry. Head coach Nate Bjorkgren should feel good that Indy was able to win shooting nine of 28 from downtown.
Bjorkgren was really happy about the team’s defensive energy “They were angry from last night and they came today with an edge to them,” he said.
Golden State couldn’t get Curry going as he shot 7–17 from 3, and they couldn’t stop Sabonis once Wiseman got into foul trouble. The Warriors should be happy with the game played by forwards Oubre Jr. and Wiggins as Wiggins scored 22 points and blocked a career-high 5 blocks, and Oubre Jr. notched 17 points.
“People are going to throw everything at Steph,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said. “That’ll be the big theme this season and we’ve got to do a better job of attacking what people are throwing at us, and we’ll get better at it.”
Indiana continues their road trip as they go to Portland to play Damian Lillard and the Portland Trailblazers on Thursday, January 14th.
For Golden State they will take on the Denver Nuggets in Denver on Thursday, Jan. 14.
