NBA highlights on Mar. 27: OKC defeat Pacers with a 24-0 run in Q3

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The 2018-19 NBA regular season had five games on Wednesday. The Oklahoma City Thunder claimed a comeback victory against the visiting Indiana Pacers 107-99 thanks to their 24-0 in the third quarter. The Memphis Grizzlies, however, lost to the visiting Golden State Warriors 118-103, with Mike Conley surpassing Marc Gasol to become the all-time leading scorer of the team.

Pacers are tough but OKC can score

Paul George #13 of the Oklahoma City Thunder shoots a three-pointer in the game they win against the Indiana Pacers 107-99 at the Chesapeake Energy Arena, March 27, 2019. /VCG Photo

Paul George dropped the court's highest 31 points while Russell Westbrook took a triple-double of 17 points for Oklahoma City, 11 rebounds and 12 assists. Steven Adams scored a double-double of 25 points and 12 rebounds. Jerami Grant contributed 19 points by making five three-pointers.

Bojan Bogdanovic put down Indiana's most 28 points while Myles Turner had 12 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks. Thaddeus Young and Wesley Matthews got 11 and 10 points, respectively. Domantas Sabonis scored a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds from the bench.

Bojan Bogdanovic #44 of the Pacers handles the ball in the game against the Thunder, March 27. /VCG Photo

The Thunder were struggling with their shooting, both in the paint and from the 3-pt line in the first half. Their failure to put the ball into the basket also left the Pacers with many chances to take easy points via transition offense. As a result, the home team trailed 54-45 before the second half.

However, as George buried a three-pointer at the beginning of the third quarter, he seemed to turn on the team's scoring machine. In the following six minutes, OKC launched a 24-0 run which turned their 10-point trail (58-48) into a 14-point lead (72-58). Though Indiana did not give up and managed to narrow the difference down to around 10 points, they did not have a superstar who could carry the team's offense by himself. In the end, the Pacers had to accept a loss and watched their lead over the Boston Celtics drop to one win in the Eastern Conference.

Conley meets milestone of his career

Mike Conley of the Memphis Grizzlies shows his number to camera in the game they lost against the Golden State Warriors 118-103 at the FedExForum, March 27, 2019. /VCG Photo

Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry shared the court's highest 28 points for Golden State. DeMarcus Cousins scored 16 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Klay Thompson had 13 points.

Jonas Valanciunas dropped 27 points and 13 rebounds for Memphis while Mike Conley got 22 points and eight assists. Bruno Caboclo dropped a double-double of 17 points and 13 rebounds. Chandler Parsons scored 13 points off the bench.

Kevin Durant #35 and Stephen Curry #30 of the Warriors highfive each other in the game against the Grizzlies, March 27. /VCG Photo

Playing against the Grizzlies was never easy for the Warriors. In Wednesday's game, though Memphis had nothing but a broken squad, they were the leading side most of the time in the first half and at most by 10 points (41-31).

The Warriors launched a counterattack since then and managed to gain the lead 66-60 thanks to the efforts by their "Hampton Five" in the last three minutes of the second quarter. Though the Grizzlies narrowed the score difference down to one point multiple times via scoring runs in the second half, GSW were always able to respond, either by straight three-pointers of the Splash Brothers or by the dominant performance of Durant. In the end, the Warriors won their second game in a row.

Conley #11 of the Grizzlies shoots in the game against the Warriors, March 27. /VCG Photo

Though his team lost the game, Conley added another leading record to his resume as a Grizzly. Besides scoring, the 31-year-old point guard also led in assists, steals, three-pointers and appearances in the history of the team. Before him, only Lebron James and Reggie Miller did it individually with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Indiana Pacers.

Will Damian Lillard finish his career in Rip City?

Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers handles the ball in the game they win against the Chicago Bulls 118-98 at the United Center, March 27, 2019. /VCG Photo

The visiting Portland Trail Blazers took an easy win against the Chicago Bulls 118-98 at the United Center. Though Portland did not have Jusuf Nurkic, they were still the better team compared with Chicago that had four of their starting players -- Zach Lavine, Otto Porter, Kris Dunn and Lauri Markkanen -- miss the game because of injuries.

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Markkanen will not play for the rest of the season. The promising 21-year-old could score 18.7 points, nine rebounds and 1.4 assists in the 32.3 minutes on average when he played for the Bulls. However, considering that the team only won 21 of their 76 games so far, there's no point sending key players to the court, risking their health.

Will Lillard finish his career with the Trail Blazers? /VCG Photo

ESPN's Brian Windhorst might have some good news for Trail Blazers fans as he reported that Damian Lillard is "comfortable with his commitment" to the team and interested in considering a supermax extension with Portland this summer.

Lillard currently has two years worth about 61 million U.S. dollars left of his contract with the Trail Blazers. If he extends it with the team in the summer, he can get at most a four-year, 199-million-dollar deal.

Considering that he is turning 29 years old in the summer, Lillard has a very good chance of finishing his career in Portland if he signs the extension deal with the team.

Other games on Wednesday: (away teams come first)

Washington Wizards 124-121 Phoenix Suns

Los Angeles Lakers 100-115 Utah Jazz