NBA highlights for March 22: More focused Pacers beat Warriors

The Indiana Pacers beat the Golden State Warriors 113-110 at the Chase Center in San Francisco, California, on Friday, securing their second straight win.

The Warriors led by as many as 12 points (60-48) in the second quarter, but were outscored 36-21 by the Pacers in the third quarter. They trailed by 17 points (107-90) in the fourth period and failed to come back in the end.

One decisive factor in Friday's game was the difference in concentration between the two sides, which resulted in a huge gap in consistency. Both sides had remarkable offensive efficiency in the first half. The Warriors drained 10 triples out of 25 attempts to score 67 points. The Pacers secured 66 points after shooting 11-for-23 from downtown.

Though the Warriors managed to lead by one point in the first half, there were signs of the Pacers gaining an upper hand in the contest from the second quarter. For example, Stephen Curry made only one of his four field goals (FGs) in the second period after going 5-for-6 from the field to get 13 points in the first quarter. Jonathan Kuminga added another three bricks out of four attempts after missing all four of his shots in the first period.

When the Warriors' two most important offensive weapons became duds, Klay Thompson knocked down four shots to score 10 points in the second quarter to keep his side together. That’s why the Pacers gave him the same defensive treatment as Curry received from the third quarter: quick double-teaming when they had the ball outside the 3-point line.

It's not like the Warriors hadn't dealt with such intense defense on the "Splash Brothers" before. Their give-and-go offensive system and NBA-leading ability to drive fast breaks should have been their response to the Pacers. Nonetheless, today’s Warriors lost in both areas due to a lack of concentration.

In fact, the Pacers began to exploit the Warriors' lack of focus from the second period. As their orchestrator, Tyrese Haliburton didn't miss any chances to go for early offense whether the Warriors made their shots or not. Furthermore, as the Warriors began to miss more shots and grew even more careless in dealing with the ball in the second half, the Pacers' fast breaks became even more unstoppable. In the end, they led 26-19 over the Warriors on this front.

The Pacers give away 120.7 points per game, the third-most of all 30 teams, with a defensive rating of 118.2, the sixth-worst in the league this season. They are not a good defensive team any way you look at it. However, this didn't keep their players from moving up the court and trying to deflect every pass and shot from the Warriors on Friday night. They forced as many as 11 turnovers from their opponents in the second half and got 10 blocks in the game.

Five of those blocks came from Myles Turner, which was not surprising since he is a two-time NBA blocks leader. It was also very eye-catching to see Haliburton get three blocks, including two on Curry. Judging by the way he did it, Haliburton had clearly studied Curry's moves and habits. Both of Haliburton's blocks on Curry happened in the second half of the game, during which he also had three of his four steals.

Other games on Friday (away teams come first):

Cleveland Cavaliers 91-103 Minnesota Timberwolves

The Timberwolves came back to defeat the Cavaliers at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with a 58-42 rally in the second half. Mike Conley got 14 of his 21 points in the final two quarters. Jaden McDaniels added 13 points in the second half. Anthony Edwards struggled to make shots, but he contributed a double-double of 16 points and 13 rebounds. He, McDaniels, Rudy Gobert and Kyle Anderson (Li Kaier) combined to grab 12 offensive rebounds.

The Cavaliers made only two triples out of 13 attempts in the second half of Friday's game. Such a poor 3-point shooting performance only encouraged the Timberwolves to close in more and more on the defensive end. Darius Garland got 10 points for the Cavaliers in the fourth quarter, but he missed four of his five FG attempts in the third period to score only two points.

Philadelphia 76ers 94-101 Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers claimed their second consecutive win despite a career-high eight turnovers by LeBron James at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, on Friday. Their biggest contributor to the victory was Anthony Davis who shot 10-for-16 from the field to drop a double-double of 23 points and 19 rebounds, including seven on the offensive glass, in addition to four blocks.

The Lakers led 96-87 when the game entered the final two minutes. Davis had two significant blocks, one on Tyrese Maxey and the other on Kyle Lowry, in these two minutes. Meanwhile, Austin Reaves got four of the purple and gold's five points at the free throw line, making sure that the win stayed at home.

Boston Celtics 129-102 Detroit Pistons

Oklahoma City Thunder 123-103 Toronto Raptors

New Orleans Pelicans 111-88 Miami Heat

Memphis Grizzlies 99-97 San Antonio Spurs

Los Angeles Clippers 125-117 Portland Trail Blazers