by Jerry Feitelberg

The Golden State Warriors crushed the Indiana Pacers 142-106 Monday night at Oracle Arena. The Dubs were wary about the Pacers. The Pacers upset the Clippers in Los Angeles Sunday night and were hoping to even the season series with the Dubs. Paul George, C.J.Miles, and Myles Turner did not play when the two teams met earlier in Indiana.

The story of the game was Klay Thompson. He scored a career-high sixty points in twenty-nine minutes of play. He sat out the entire fourth quarter as the Dubs were just too powerful for the Pacers. The Dubs were magnificent on offense, but they excelled on defense, too. The Warriors led by eleven 38-27 after the first quarter. The game was even for about the first five minutes of play, but Klay was on fire. He scored seventeen points in the quarter. The Dubs were rebounding and getting the ball out on the fast break. Draymond Green and Steph Curry combined for twelve assists in the quarter. Klay stayed hot in the second period. He scored twenty-three and the Warriors went on a 17-2 run to gain a thirty-point lead 80-50 at the end of the half. They had twenty-five assists and just two turnovers in the half. They had twenty-three fast break points and scored 36 in the paint. Durant had sixteen and Steph ten. They shot 59% from the field. Thompson had 40 of the Dubs 80 points in the half. It was an amazing performance.

The Warriors did not let up in the third quarter. Thompson stayed hot as he scored twenty points.  He made three three-point shots and the crowd went ballistic. He received a standing ovation and the crowd kept chanting Klay, Klay, Klay. His sixty points was a new career high for him. The lead at the end of the quarter was 116-83. Coach Steve Kerr kept Klay, Steph, KD, Draymond, and Zaza on the bench for the entire fourth quarter. The second unit of Ian Clark, Patrick McCaw, Kevon Looney, JaVale McGee, and James Michael McAdoo finished out the game for the Dubs.

Game Notes- The Warriors’ record improved to 18-3 with the win. The Dubs hit the road and face the Los Angeles Clippers Wednesday night in LA. They play the Utah Jazz on Thursday. They do not play Friday but they have another back-to-back  set with Memphis on Saturday and then Minnesota on Sunday.

Kevin Durant scored twenty and had eight rebounds. Steph Curry scored just thirteen but he had eleven assists and he thoroughly enjoyed Klay’s performance as he was jumping up and down off the bench watching his teammate’s magnificent performance. Draymond Green had ten assists. Paul George scored twenty-one for the Pacers. Thaddeus Young and Jeff Teague scored 10 and 16 respectively.

The Dubs shot 52% from the floor. They outrebounded the Pacers 63-45 and they had twelve steals and twelve blocked shots as they overpowered the Pacers.

After the game, as Klay as being interviewed, Klay remarked that he “felt great obviously. It was a lot of fun.” At that point, Steph Curry dropped a bag of ice on his head. The interviewer asked him “did it cool you off?'” Klay remarked: “no, I’m still hot.” Was he ever. Later, Coach Kerr said this about not letting Klay play the fourth quarter:”we were up and hand the game in hand. Had no thought of playing him in the quarter.” When asked about his team he said this:”the team takes a lot of joy in each others success.” He was also quite pleased with the way the way the team moved the ball and did not commit many turnovers:” we kept our turnovers way down. Don’t give up the easy stuff when you take care of the ball.” The Dubs committed eleven turnovers in the game but seven of them came in the fourth quarter when the second unit was in the game.

Next game is Wednesday night in Los Angeles against the Clippers at the Staples Center. First meeting of the year between the two bitter rivals. Game time is at 7:30 pm.