INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - With Stephen Curry struggling to make baskets, Draymond Green gave Golden State a boost of energy.
The Warriors needed everything he could muster.
Green scored on two late dunks to start the decisive final run, defended hard and found a way to corral loose balls in the closing minutes as Golden State scored six straight points to finally fend off the Indiana Pacers 111-107 on Wednesday night.
“I think in general we don’t really need Draymond to score,” coach Steve Kerr said. “We need him to do what he needs energy wise but there are going to be some nights like tonight where we don’t make a lot of shots and if we get a few from Draymond it might put us over the top.”
Green certainly bailed out the weary Warriors, who won the last two games on a four-game road trip.
His numbers - 12 points, 11 assists, nine rebounds and three steals - only told part of the tale on a night Golden State made a season-low 19.2% from 3-point range. Curry scored 24 points but was just 7 of 21 from the field and 1 of 11 from beyond the arc.
But at the end, Green cleaned up by doing the dirty work.
“It’s not pretty,” Kerr said. “Draymond was just tremendous tonight. It was a hell of a grind out win.”
Malcolm Brogdon led the Pacers with 24 points, and Domantas Sabonis had 22 points and 16 rebounds for his his 24th double-double of the season. But the Pacers looked rusty after taking an unexpected one-week break because of two postponed games.
The Warriors failed to take advantage of earlier opportunities to take control of the back-and-forth contest.
Instead, the Pacers fought back from an 81-75 deficit late in the third quarter to tie the score at 86 early in the fourth. And after Golden State scored four straight to take a 95-91 lead midway through the fourth, the Pacers got as close as 99-98 with 4:36 to play.
That’s when Green drove through the lane for an uncontested dunk to start the decisive run, and the Pacers never recovered.
“We played hard, we just didn’t make baskets at the end,” Pacers center Myles Turner said.
TIP-INS
Warriors: Eric Pascalll had 13 points. … Andrew Wiggins scored 15 points and has scored in double figures every game this season… Kelly Oubre Jr. finished with 17 points, the first time in five games he failed to reach 19. … Rookie James Wiseman had 11 points before fouling out early in the fourth. … Golden State won in Indy for the first time since March 2019 and became the fifth team in NBA history with 1,000th road wins, joining the Celtics, Lakers, 76ers and Knicks.
Pacers: Sabonis had 15 points and seven rebounds in the second quarter. … Turner finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and two blocks. … Doug McDermott added 15 points. … T.J. McConnell had nine points, six assists and five rebounds. … Indiana had won the last two against Golden State. It hasn’t won three straight in the series since 2011-12. … The Pacers were 7 of 29 on 3s and had 19 turnovers.
COMING UP SHORT
Curry’s seven field goals gave him 5,999 in his career, leaving him one short of becoming the fourth player in franchise history with 6,000. The others are Wilt Chamberlain, Rick Barry and Chris Mullin.
His streak of 14 consecutive games with 25 more points was And while he made a 3 in his 94th consecutive game, he’s now away from matching teammate Klay Thompson for the third-longest streak in NBA history, his 14-game streak with 25 or more points ended. It was Golden State’s longest streak since Barry had 17 in a row in 1974-75.
UP NEXT
Warriors: Host Charlotte on Friday night.
Pacers: At Boston on Friday night.
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