Field Level Media
05 Dec 2022, 23:55 GMT+10
The Golden State Warriors will get another opportunity to put on their dizzying passing display against a road-weary opponent when they host the Indiana Pacers on Monday night in San Francisco.
The Warriors recorded 30 or more assists for the ninth time in their past 11 games when they logged 34in a 120-101 home win Saturday over the Houston Rockets, who were enduring the second night of a road back-to-back.
The Pacers will have to deal with the same handicap Monday, coming off a 116-100 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday night.
Indiana's date in Portland was its fifth on a seven-game trip that ends Wednesday at Minnesota. The Pacers are 1-4 on the trop, with the lone win coming Nov. 28 against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Meanwhile, the Warriors haven't lost a home game since falling to the Denver Nuggets 128-123 in the first week of the season. They've gone 10-0 since, giving them an 11-1 home record that is the best in the NBA.
The 34 assists in the win over the Rockets boosted Golden State's season average to a league-leading 30.0. Only six teams in NBA history have finished a season at 30.0 or higher, including the Warriors in 2017, when they set a franchise record at 30.4 during their 67-win campaign.
The 1985 Los Angeles Lakers, led by Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, hold the all-time mark at 31.4.
The Warriors had 13 assists in the first quarter alone against the Rockets, running off to a 39-23 lead in a display that impressed their coach, Steve Kerr.
"I thought that was maybe the best stretch we've had all year to start the game," he said of a run that went four minutes into the second period. "Maybe eight minutes left in the second quarter, we didn't have any turnovers. We had like 16 assists. We were defending, rebounding and doing everything right ... and then we just lost our focus."
That helped the Rockets get as close as four in the final period, before the Warriors found the range again from beyond the arc, finishing off an entertaining show in which they shot 25-for-52 on 3-pointers.
The Warriors rested Klay Thompson on the second night of their own back-to-back against the Rockets, and they also could be a bit shorthanded Monday with Andrew Wiggins (right adductor tightness) and Jordan Poole (sore left ankle) both considered questionable.
The Warriors haven't seen the Pacers since January, meaning they will encounter longtime nemesis Buddy Hield in an Indiana uniform for the first time.
Hield was dealt from Sacramento to Indiana in February along with Tyrese Haliburton, but the latter sustained a strained left groin on the Pacers' current trip and is expected to miss his second consecutive game.
Hield helped keep the Haliburton-less squad in the game at Portland with 22 points and 11 rebounds. He hit four of his nine 3-point attempts.
"(Coach) Rick (Carlisle) does a good job of letting me play," Hield said of his early success with the Pacers. "He's putting me in good spots and letting me run the floor."
The seven-year veteran has 71 career 3-pointers against the Warriors.
--Field Level Media
Get a daily dose of Oakland Times news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Oakland Times.
More InformationFinal prayers were offered Tuesday in Karachi for Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's late president and military ruler.The service at the grounds ...
Washington - The FBI and the law enforcement agencies of four U.S. allies are sounding the alarm about a dramatic ...
Iowa will face Northwestern in a Big Ten football game at Chicago's Wrigley Field on Nov. 4. It is the ...
© Provided by Xinhua According to IMF's latest projection, China's economy is set to rebound this year, as mobility and ...
World No. 1 Lydia Ko will have a new caddie in 2023 as she reunites with David Jones, her sister ...
The Miami Heat are trading center Dewayne Dedmon to the San Antonio Spurs, The Athletic reported Tuesday. The Heat are ...
WASHINGTON, DC - The global community has extended aid to Turkey and Syria following the devastating earthquakes that hit the ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: US lawmakers have called on the Department of Energy to release documents detailing attempts by Russian hackers to ...
Photo credit: Ercin Erturk / Anadolu AgencyThe death toll from Monday's massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Turkey and Syria has ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: In a sign of future political battles over record numbers of illegal crossings under Democratic President Joe Biden, ...
MOSCOW, Russia: Russian state-run TASS news agency has reported that a US woman was detained and fined by a Russian ...
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Former President General (retd) Pervez Musharraf died in a Dubai hospital on Sunday at the age of ...