Thunder-Pacers Preview

By MATT BECKER
Posted Apr 05 2012 4:01PM

The Oklahoma City Thunder's pursuit of the NBA's best record has stalled with a pair of defeats in competitive and physical games. They could be in store for another tight one with a visit to Indiana.

The Thunder try to avoid their first three-game losing streak of the season Friday night when they face a Pacers team seeking its fourth straight victory.

After easily beating Chicago 92-78 on Sunday to pull within one game of the Eastern Conference-leading Bulls, Oklahoma City (40-14) lost to Memphis 94-88 the next night and fell in Miami 98-93 Wednesday.

The Thunder led the Heat by 11 in the second quarter, but Miami seemed to wake up after two hard Oklahoma City fouls - a technical by Kendrick Perkins on Dwyane Wade and a flagrant assessed to Russell Westbrook for pulling LeBron James down from behind on a fast break.

"It was a physical game," Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. "I like that. I'm sure they like it. Neither team backed down.

"We got physical players and that's how you win in this league. You don't win by not being tough. We're young, but we're not softies."

The Pacers (33-21) certainly aren't considered soft, either. They beat the Heat last week and have won three in a row to move into third place in the East.

"We've got a veteran group that's dialed in to a tight playoff race," Indiana coach Frank Vogel said after Wednesday's 109-96 win over Washington.

"This team could be really good but we've got to continue to stay focused. Any loss or any drop off and we could go back in the standings. We're happy where we're at right now and we want to continue to improve."

It could be tough for the Pacers to improve on their win over the Wizards, though. The team shot a season-best 57.9 percent and the starters hit 70.7 percent of their shots. Danny Granger led the way with 20 points, Darren Collison added 17 and Tyler Hansbrough and Leandro Barbosa scored 14 apiece.

Granger is averaging 26.3 points during the winning streak - 7.9 better than his team-leading average - and as he goes, so goes Indiana. The Pacers are 19-4 when he reaches the 20-point mark, but 14-17 when he doesn't, which includes two games he didn't play.

While the Thunder will be focused of shutting down Granger, Indiana has the difficult task of trying to contain Kevin Durant, the league's second-highest scorer at 27.6 points per game.

Durant had 30 against the Heat, but was hounded by James and turned the ball over a career-worst nine times. His carelessness with the ball wasn't the sole reason Oklahoma City lost.

The Thunder, who haven't dropped three in a row since last February, shot 29.4 percent from beyond the arc Wednesday after making 23.8 percent of their 3-pointers against the Grizzlies. They had shot 40.8 percent from the perimeter in winning their previous six games.

Westbrook, fifth in scoring at 24.4 points, struggled to find his rhythm versus Miami, misfiring on 17 of 26 shots yet still scored 28. The two-time All-Star point guard had no trouble against the Pacers last season, totaling 64 points on 57.1 percent shooting in a pair of wins.

Granger had nine points in a 113-89 loss in Oklahoma City and scored 30 in an overtime defeat in Indianapolis.

The Pacers, who are opening a three-game homestand, have won three in a row at Bankers Life Fieldhouse and are 10-3 there since Feb. 16.

Granger leads Pacers past Thunder

By CLIFF BRUNT
Posted Apr 06 2012 11:25PM

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) The Indiana Pacers faced Kevin Durant's best effort and held on.

Durant scored 44 points, but Danny Granger had 13 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter to help the Pacers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 103-98 on Friday night for their fourth straight win.

Durant, the NBA's No. 2 scorer, posted his second-best scoring total of the season. It was the most a player has scored against the Pacers this season.

"He's probably the top offensive player in the NBA," Granger said. "They've got him at 6-10, but he's really 7 feet. You can't get to his jump shot, and he's got crossovers and stuff that a guy his size isn't supposed to have. He's tough to defend. He got a lot of points, but we got the win."

Roy Hibbert had 21 points and 12 rebounds, David West scored 14 points and Paul George added eight points and a career-high 16 rebounds for the Pacers (34-21), who have won eight of 10.

The Pacers felt it was an important to beat one of the top teams in the Western Conference so close to playoff time. Indiana is 1 1/2 games ahead of the Atlanta Hawks for the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference.

"They're fighting for a No. 1 seed," Granger said. "We're fighting for a seed in our conference. That wasn't a game that either team could afford to lose and we came out on top, so I think that says a lot about us as a team and the steps that we're taking."

Oklahoma City wasted an outstanding effort by Durant, who made 15 of 24 field goals and 11 of 13 free throws.

The Thunder, second in the league with 103 points per game, have scored fewer than 100 in four straight games. Russell Westbrook had 21 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists, but he shot 7 for 23 from the field as the Thunder lost their third consecutive game.

"You can't panic," Durant said. "Three in a row is tough, especially late in the season, but you can't panic. We played hard all three games, and we came back in this one."

Oklahoma City cut a 24-point deficit to 10 in the fourth quarter, but a step-back jumper by Granger with Durant in his face gave Indiana a 94-82 lead with 3:21 remaining and forced the Thunder to call a timeout.

Oklahoma kept rallying as Durant was fouled on a dunk, and he made the free throw to cut Indiana's lead to 96-91 with 1:08 to go.

Kendrick Perkins trimmed Indiana's lead to 97-93 on a reverse layup with 37 seconds left, but Darren Collison's jumper from near the free throw line with 16 seconds remaining and time running out on the shot clock gave Indiana a cushion.

Westbrook banked in a 3-pointer with 5.5 seconds left to cut Indiana's lead to 101-98. Granger made two free throws with 4.7 seconds left to seal the Pacers' win.

"It's one of those situations where you try so hard a certain amount of times and just can't seem to get over the hump," Oklahoma City guard James Harden said. "But we shouldn't have put ourselves in that situation to begin with."

Hibbert's tip for a long putback gave the Pacers a 56-41 lead late in the second quarter, prompting Indiana's crowd to stand for the final 15 seconds of the half. The Pacers shot 54 percent before the break and held Oklahoma City to 42 percent. Hibbert had 16 points in the first half, matching Durant. Westbrook scored three points on 1-for-8 shooting before the break.

Indiana continued its strong shooting early in the second half. A bucket by West gave Indiana a 64-43 lead. Three mid-range jumpers by Granger fueled a stretch that pushed the advantage to 72-48 and forced Oklahoma City to call timeout. The Thunder missed five of six shots to start the second half.

The Thunder chipped away late in the third quarter, trimming Indiana's lead to 75-61 at the end of the period. The Pacers shot 7 for 26 from the field in the third quarter, but they never lost confidence.

"We're resourceful," Hibbert said. "We're a different team than we have been in the past. We grind out wins. We don't crack like we used to at the end of games."

The Pacers earned Oklahoma City's respect.

"They have a great team," Durant said. "They can stack up against anybody. They have inside, outside presence. They have a lot of weapons. They're going to be tough in the East. We got a taste of it tonight."

NOTES: Indiana shot 55 percent in the first quarter to lead 32-20. ... Hibbert had four blocks in the first quarter and Oklahoma City's Serge Ibaka had three. Ibaka finished with seven blocks. ... Indiana went on a 12-0 run to take a 35-20 lead early in the second quarter. ... George had 10 rebounds in the first half, matching his career high. ... Indiana had a sellout crowd of 18,165 for just the fifth time this season.

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

Notebook: Pacers 103, Thunder 98

Posted Friday April 6, 2012 11:00PM

By Conrad Brunner, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: Kevin Durant was brilliant, but he couldn't do it alone. Oklahoma City's slender superstar almost carried his team all the way back from a 24-point deficit, scoring 24 of his 44 points in the final 15 minutes, but the Thunder couldn't overcome a gritty performance from Indiana and fell 103-98 to the Pacers Friday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Indiana led 72-48 midway through the third quarter but Durant's three-point play cut it to 96-91 with 1:08 left. Darren Collison hit a clutch jumper with 16.8 seconds remaining to ice it for Indiana. The Pacers won their fourth in a row and improved to 34-21, 18-7 at home and two games ahead of Orlando in the race for third place in the East. Oklahoma City has its first three-game losing streak of the season and fell to 40-15, 17-10 on the road.

QUOTABLE: "We're clicking offensively, we're coming defensively, we're rebounding the ball well. We know we can win in a variety of different ways. And we're doing it all without practice. Who needs practice?"
-- Indiana Coach Frank Vogel

THE STAT: Danny Granger scored 13 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Pacers. In the last three games in which he has played in the fourth quarter and overtime, Granger has racked up 40 points, including 14 against the Knicks and 13 against the Rockets in comeback victories.

TURNING POINT: The Thunder used a small lineup to spark a 17-3 run closing the third and opening the fourth periods, cutting Indiana's lead to 75-65 with 10:57 remaining. With plenty of time and all the momentum, Oklahoma City seemed poise to take the game away. But Leandro Barbosa and Granger hit consecutive 3-pointers to give the Pacers desperately needed breathing room and the Thunder would not challenge again until the closing seconds.

QUOTABLE II: "I thought we did a real good job on (Russell) Westbrook and (James) Harden -- not so good on Durant."
-- Vogel

HOT: Durant was electrifying, hitting 15 of 24 from the field, including 3-of-8 from the 3-point, line, and making 11 of 13 free throws. Granger was again solid for the Pacers, scoring 19 in the second half, and Roy Hibbert had 21 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots for Indiana.

NOT: Rarely can a player produce 21 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists and look worse than Westbrook, who shot 7 of 23 and played with obvious frustration throughout the game.

QUOTABLE III: "You can't panic. Three in a row is tough, especially late in the season, but you can't panic. We played hard all three games and we fought back in this one. We just have to get ready at home and try to get a win. It's a lesson learned for us. We just have to keep pushing."
- Durant

GOOD MOVE: After Kendrick Perkins dunked with 9.9 seconds remaining to cut it to 99-95, the Pacers had trouble getting the ball inbounds, but Hibbert raced over to catch the entry pass, put both feet down like a wide receiver tightroping the sideline and flipped the ball to Collison before the 7-2 center went sailing into the first two rows of spectators. Collison wrapped up the ball, was fouled and made two free throws to help seal the verdict.

BAD MOVE: With the Thunder down four with 37.9 seconds remaining, Coach Scott Brooks opted not to foul, allowing the Pacers to run 21 seconds off the clock before Collison rose up for the decisive jump shot.

NOTABLE: Paul George had a career-high 16 rebounds and three steals for the Pacers. ... Indiana wrapped up its Western Conference schedule 12-5 overall, 6-2 at home. ... The Pacers topped 100 points for the fifth consecutive game and ninth in 12 since the trade for Barbosa. ... The Thunder, who entered as the second-highest scoring team in the league, failed to score 100 for the fourth game in a row. ... Indiana shot 32 percent in the second half, 53 percent in the first.

UP NEXT: For the Pacers, Saturday vs. Boston, Monday vs. Toronto, Wednesday @ Cleveland. For the Thunder, Sunday vs. Toronto, Monday @ Milwaukee, Wednesday vs. L.A. Clippers.

• Thunder: Jackson, Maynor
• Pacers: Fesenko, Foster

• Thunder: --
• Pacers: --

• Lead Changes: 7
• Times Tied: 3

• Arena: Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN
• Officials: #49 Tom Washington, #61 Courtney Kirkland, #20 Leroy Richardson
• Attendance: 18165
• Duration: 2:27