Warriors-Pacers Preview

By MATT BECKER
Posted Feb 27 2012 2:13PM

The Indiana Pacers exceeded even their increased expectations over the first half of the season, and coach Frank Vogel believes his team is only going to get better.

The Pacers come out of the All-Star break looking to win five straight games for the first time in nearly two years Tuesday night against the visiting Golden State Warriors.

After earning the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference last season with a 37-45 record, Indiana (21-12) trails only Miami and Chicago. The Pacers experienced a rough stretch in mid-February with five straight losses, but have since regrouped to win four in a row.

"Our team has no ceiling," Vogel said after Wednesday's 102-88 win at Charlotte. "I've said that from Day 1. I know we can play with the best in the league.

"We've just got to do it on a consistent enough basis to earn one of the league's best records. We are near the top. We want to be at the top. We've got great talent at every position. We're not a mega-star team but we've got stars on our team."

The Pacers, who haven't won five straight games since March 19-26, 2010, sent one player - Roy Hibbert - to Sunday's All-Star game. The 7-foot-2 center finished with three points and three rebounds in 10 minutes in the East's loss.

"It was a great atmosphere," said Hibbert, who averages 13.8 points and a team-best 9.6 rebounds. "I can't wait to get back to Indiana and go back to work."

The Pacers, who ease into the second half of their schedule with three more days off following Tuesday's game, defeated the Warriors 94-91 on Jan. 20, but the outcome was controversial.

With the score tied in the closing seconds, Indiana's George Hill knocked the ball away from Monta Ellis and then converted a three-point play for the final margin. Replays showed Hill intentionally kicked the ball away from Ellis, and the NBA admitted the following day that the officials missed the call.

It was a tough way to lose for the Warriors (13-17), but avenging that defeat won't be easy with the rematch in Indianapolis.

The Pacers, 10-4 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, have won four straight home games over Golden State since a 113-98 loss Feb. 5, 2007, their lone defeat in the last 10 meetings in Indiana.

The Warriors also have the difficult task of facing an Indiana defense allowing an average of 89.3 points during its winning streak - and possibly doing so without Stephen Curry.

Curry, who averages 16.5 points, sprained a ligament in his right foot during Wednesday's 106-104 win at Phoenix and is listed as day-to-day.

His potential absence may force Ellis to take on an even bigger role.

Ellis, who averages a team-best 22.4 points - the highest for any player not named an All-Star - hit a 20-foot fadeaway with 1 second remaining against the Suns. He finished with 26 points, and is averaging 30.3 on 47.7 percent shooting - including 10 of 17 from 3-point range - in his last three games after averaging 13.0 points on 28.6 percent shooting in his previous three.

Ellis had 25 points against the Pacers last month, making all three of his shots in the final two minutes.

Indiana's Danny Granger led all scorers with 26 points in that game, while Hibbert finished with 10 points and 16 rebounds.

Granger, who averages a team-high 18.0 points, regularly burns a Golden State team not known for its defense. In seven games against the Warriors since the start of 2008-09, Granger is averaging 31.6 points, his highest against any opponent.

This game will be the first in Indiana as a visitor for Warriors guard Brandon Rush, a starter for the Pacers for much of the past three seasons before being replaced by Paul George, then dealt to Golden State in December. Rush leads the NBA in 3-point shooting (52.4 percent) but is averaging just 6.0 points in February.

Granger's 25 lead Pacers past Warriors

By CLIFF BRUNT
Posted Feb 28 2012 10:52PM

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) The Indiana Pacers don't intend to let Miami and Chicago pull away for a two-team race in the Eastern Conference.

Danny Granger scored 25 points to help Indiana beat the Golden State Warriors 102-78 Tuesday night for their fifth straight win.

The Pacers wanted to set the tone for the rest of their season, and this was the start they were looking for.

"We came out with a killer mentality and continued to play that way all night," said Indiana forward Tyler Hansbrough, who had 15 points and nine rebounds. "We came to play."

All-Star Roy Hibbert added 12 points and nine rebounds, Paul George had 11 points and nine rebounds, Darren Collison also scored 11 points and David West had 10 points and seven boards for Indiana, which remained in third place in the East.

The Pacers topped 100 points for the fourth straight game after doing so just six times before the current stretch.

"We got a lot of deflections and a lot of steals, a lot of fast break points, and typically, when we get a lot of fast break points, we usually win," Granger said.

Monta Ellis and Brandon Rush each scored 14 points for the Warriors, who finished with season lows in points and field-goal percentage (.341).

"Embarrassing," Golden State coach Mark Jackson said. "We got outworked. We did not take care of the basketball. We allowed them to get going in transition. Disappointing part is that we allowed our inability to make shot to affect the way we defended."

Golden State guard Stephen Curry sat out with a strained tendon in his right foot. The Warriors missed the 45-percent 3-point shooter - they made just 1 of 17 3s in the first three quarters.

"That's not us," Rush said. "I think we're one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the league, and tonight was not one of our nights."

David Lee, who had averaged 19.3 points per game, finished with 12 points and five turnovers. Indiana shut down the league's No. 5 scoring offense, which had averaged 99.2 points per game.

"Like coach said after the game, if anyone thought they played well tonight, they're kidding themselves," Lee said.

The Pacers led 52-38 at halftime as Golden State posted its second-lowest point total in a first half 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, so we just had to jump on them early," Granger said.

A 3-pointer by George early in the second half pushed Indiana's lead to 57-40, and a reverse layup by Granger upped the margin to 19. A free throw by George gave Indiana a 20-point lead for the first time, and a putback dunk by Hibbert on a miss by Granger forced the Warriors to call timeout.

Golden State missed four of its first five shots after halftime to fall behind 62-40. A 3-point play by Granger pushed Indiana's lead to 77-47.

"They came out with a lot of intensity," Ellis said. "Made a lot of shots, got out there and ran, and they won the ball game. You can call it what you want to, but at the end of the day, we didn't come out and do what we needed to do to come out and win."

Granger scored 15 points on 6-for-9 shooting in the third quarter. The Pacers shot 12 for 19 as a team in the period while holding the Warriors to 7-for-21 shooting.

"He was on fire, so we kept going to him," Hibbert said. "Just like any other night. If I'm getting going, or D-West (David West) is going, they're going to keep feeding us."

The end result: a front-row seat for all five starters for the entire fourth quarter.

"Anytime that happens, that's great," Hibbert said. "That's not going to happen all the time."

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NOTES: Warriors coach Jackson, a former Pacers player, was cheered loudly during pregame introductions. ... Indiana took a 10-0 lead early as Golden State missed its first nine shots. ... Ellis made a bank shot as time expired at the end of the first quarter to cut Indiana's lead to 24-21. ... Ellis shot 1-for-6 in the second half. .. Charles Jenkins, who started for Golden State in place of Curry, scored two points on 0-for-5 shooting. ... Indiana G George Hill had two points on 1-for-6 shooting in his second game back from a chip fracture in his left ankle.

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Follow Cliff Brunt on Twitter: www.twitter.com/cliffbruntap

Notebook: Pacers 102, Warriors 78

Posted Tuesday February 28, 2012 10:42PM

By Conrad Brunner, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: Mark Jackson's return to Indiana wasn't exactly triumphant. In his first game back as a head coach, Jackson's Warriors fell behind 10-0 out of the gate, setting the tone for a 102-78 rout by the Pacers before 12,111 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Indiana (22-12) won its fifth in a row, the team's longest streak since 2005. Danny Granger scored 17 of his 25 points in a 33-10 run bridging intermission as the Pacers blew it open, taking a six-point lead and stretching it to 29. Monta Ellis and Brandon Rush scored 14 apiece for the Warriors (13-18), who had two-game win streak snapped in the absence of point guard Stephen Curry, who sat out the game to rest a strained tendon in his right foot.

QUOTABLE: "We wanted to come out in the second half and set the tone with a strong effort. We're getting back to being a strong defensive team again. Guys are comfortable with their roles."
- Indiana head coach Frank Vogel.

THE STAT: The Pacers held the Warriors to season lows in points, field-goal percentage (.341) and 3-point percentage (.136)

TURNING POINT: After closing the first half on an 8-0 run to build a 52-38 lead, the Pacers opened the second with a 10-2 burst to make it 62-40. Granger had two three-point plays and a 3-point shot as the run grew to 33-10 and the lead to 77-48.

QUOTABLE II: "Tonight was embarrassing."
- Jackson.

HOT: Granger shot 6 of 9 in the second half and wound up 9 of 18. ... Paul George only scored 11 points but did everything else with nine rebounds, five assists and four steals. ... Tyler Hansbrough had his second straight strong game off the bench with 15 points and nine boards.

NOT: The Warriors entered the game second in the NBA in 3-point accuracy (.396) but shot 3-of-22. ... Ellis was 7 of 19 overall and missed all four of his 3-pointers, while Dorell Wright was 0 of 5 from the arc. ... Golden State's starters combined to shoot 13 of 45 (29 percent), including 0 of 11 from the arc.

QUOTABLE III: "We came out strong, focused and with purpose. Our legs were fairly fresh and everybody in this locker room knew that we had to work hard to get this win. We followed the game plan."
- George.

GOOD MOVE: When Jackson brought Rush into the game early in the third quarter to try to stem Indiana's run, Vogel left George on Ellis, assigning the 6-2 Darren Collison to guard the 6-6 Rush. George smothered Ellis defensively with four steals in the third period alone as Golden State's leading score made just one of six shots.

BAD MOVE: With Curry out, Jackson opted to start Charles Jenkins at the point instead of veteran Nate Robinson. Jenkins had two points, two assists and shot 0 of 5 in 18 minutes.

NOTABLE: In their win streak, the Pacers have outscored opponents by 17.6 points and outrebounded them by 10.2 per game. ... Indiana had a season-high 26 fast-break points and scored at least 100 for a season-best fourth straight game. ... Golden State is in the midst of its longest road trip of the year, six games sandwiching the All-Star break. ... Rush was typically low-key about his first game back in Indiana since being trade to the Warriors for Lou Amundson prior to the season. "I look at this thing as a business," Rush said. "You can't take anything personal." ... Jackson was back in Indiana for the first time as a coach. The former point guard helped direct the Pacers to four Eastern Conference Finals and one NBA Finals in from 1995-2000.

UP NEXT: For the Pacers, Saturday @ New Orleans, Monday @ Chicago, Tuesday vs. Atlanta. For the Warriors, Wednesday @ Atlanta, Friday @ Philadelphia, Sunday @ Toronto.

• Warriors: Brown, Tyler
• Pacers: --

• Warriors: --
• Pacers: --

• Lead Changes: 2
• Times Tied: 1

• Arena: Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN
• Officials: #43 Dan Crawford, #76 Steven Anderson, #33 Zach Zarba
• Attendance: 12111
• Duration: 2:07