Klay Thompson seized the moment twice Tuesday night.
With a victory seemingly slipping away late in the third quarter, his quick scoring flurry helped Golden State regain control early in the fourth. Then, when it seemed the Warriors wouldn’t be able to hold off Indiana’s late charge, he knocked down a 12-foot turnaround jumper with 0.6 seconds to go, giving the Warriors a rare 98-96 victory in Indianapolis.
“We’ll take any win we can get in this building,” Thompson said. “This team is real good here. They’re the best in the NBA (at home). To come here and get a win, it’s huge, especially on this road trip.”
Thompson was terrific in his dramatic closing act. He started the quarter by making his first three shots and finished with 16 of his 25 points over the final 12 minutes – none bigger than the baseline fadeaway he hit over George Hill.
For the Warriors (37-24), it was a monumental victory.
They have won five of six and are 6-2 since the All-Star break. They have matched last season’s road victory total (19), the first time they’ve achieved the feat in back-to-back seasons since 1970/71 and 1971/72, and they snapped a six-game losing streak in Indy that dated to February 5, 2007.
The victory also gives Golden State the distinction of being the only team in the league this season with wins at Miami, the two-time defending league champions, and at Indiana, who own the league’s best record and best home record (29-4).
The Warriors can thank Thompson for bailing them out after blowing a 13-point lead with less than 6 1/2 minutes to go.
“He was great,” Golden State coach Mark Jackson said. “He’s durable and you take him for granted. He’s a guy who’s never missed a game. He was big-time.”
It was a stinging loss for the Pacers (46-14), who had won five straight and could have clinched a play-off spot in front of a sellout crowd.
Paul George had 12 points and eight rebounds in the first quarter. He finished with 26 points and 12 rebounds, missing a potential go-ahead three-pointer with 23.9 seconds left and the 29-foot buzzer beater that would have won it as he fell into the scorer’s table. David West had 27 points and seven rebounds.
Yet the league’s top-ranked defence allowed Golden State to shoot 44 per cent from the field and make 10-of-20 threes – the latest uncharacteristic showing against the NBA’s third-best team in defending the arc.
The only good thing was that the Pacers didn’t lose any ground in the chase for the top seed in the East. They’re still two games ahead of Miami after the Heat lost at Houston.
But West knows the Pacers can’t continue to rely on beating up bad teams and cranking up the intensity when necessary.
“Mentally, we’ve got to be way tougher than we are because it’s time, you know, it’s just time,” West said. “It’s just not something that you can just say a week before the play-offs, say, ‘OK.’ You’ve got to work your way into it. But as a group, it’s time. We’ve got a tough three-game trip coming up and it’s just time.”
For Thompson, it was a breakthrough moment in a sometimes up-and-down season for the third-year guard.
“It felt great. To hit that shot, I’m not going to lie, it felt great,” Thompson said. “I proved to people I can make that shot and I wanted that shot.”
Meanwhile, Dwight Howard scored 22 points, grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds and defended LeBron James on a missed final shot that gave Houston, another Western Conference hopeful, a 106-103 over Miami.
One night after James scored a career-high 61 points, the four-time NBA Most Valuable Player managed only 22 as the Rockets snapped the Heat's eight-game win streak.
James Harden added 21 points and a game-high 11 assists while Patrick Beverley and Terrence Jones scored 19 points each and Chandler Parsons added 10 points and eight assists for the Rockets.
Dwyane Wade and reserve Michael Beasley each scored 24 points to lead Miami, who made a 16-3 run in the fourth quarter to tie it at 91-91.
Houston scored the next seven points and were never caught again, although Beasley sank a three-pointer to pull Miami within the final margin.
The Rockets responded with a long pass up the court to Howard that went out of bounds while James leaped to challenge Howard and was elbowed in the face by the Houston star.
James grabbed his face as he fell to the court but moments later, the Heat took over for a final shot and the ball went to James, who was guarded by Howard beyond the three-point arc.
As time ticked down, James launched a three-pointer over the outstretched arm of Howard that missed at the final buzzer.
OTHER TUESDAY RESULTS
Thunder 125, 76ers 92
Kevin Durant scored 42 points and guard Russell Westbrook collected his eighth career triple-double in leading the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 125-92 win over the Philadelphia 76ers.
In his sixth game back from injury, Westbrook racked up 13 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists in only 20 minutes and 17 seconds of action.
It was the second-fewest minutes any player has ever needed to reach a triple-double, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Westbrook needed so few minutes because the 76ers (15-46) offered little resistance on their way to a 15th straight defeat.
Oklahoma City (46-15) held a 16-point lead at halftime and torched Philly in the third to put the game away.
Clippers 104, Suns 96
The Los Angeles Clippers won their fifth straight game and distanced themselves atop the Pacific Division after downing the Phoenix Suns.
With 20 games to play, Los Angeles are 42-20, five games ahead of Golden State and six games ahead of the fading Suns, losers of four of their past six.
Matt Barnes led the Clippers with 28 points while Blake Griffin had 22 points, six assists and five rebounds.
PJ Tucker led Phoenix (35-25) with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Spurs 122, Cavaliers 101
Danny Green scored 24 points to lead the San Antonio Spurs to victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Green, drafted by the Cavs in 2009 before they waived him in 2010, converted 7-of-12 shots from the field and 3-of-7 from behind the arc.
The Spurs (44-16) also got 18 points and five rebounds from forward Kawhi Leonard and 16 points from both Patty Mills and Boris Diaw.
Cleveland guard Dion Waiters, playing in his first game since February 18 because of a hyperextended left knee, had 24 points for the Cavs (24-38).
Pelicans 132, Lakers 125
Anthony Davis rebounded from a poor night on Monday with 28 points and 15 rebounds to lead New Orleans (24-37) over Los Angeles (21-40).
Eric Gordon also scored 28 on 9-of-13 sooting and Tyreke Evans pitched in 24.
Pau Gasol has 29 points and 12 rebounds for the hapless Lakers, alone at the bottom of the Western Conference. Kent Bazemore had 23 and Jordan Farmar provided 20, as well.