The race for playoff positioning will heat up Friday in San Francisco when the Golden State Warriors look to win a season against the Indiana Pacers, who are playing their second game of a five-game road streak.
The Pacers (39-31) sit in sixth place in the Eastern Conference, holding the last guaranteed playoff spot to avoid the play-in tournament, after a 122-103 rout of the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday.
Pascal Siakam scored 25 points and grabbed eight rebounds in the win, while NBA assists leader Tyrese Haliburton (11.2 per game) had nine to go along with his 20 points.
Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said it’s clear the duo of Siakam and Haliburton feeding off each other is crucial for the Pacers in their late-season campaign.
“(Siakam) is really a spectacular player, but he does things quietly,” Carlisle said. “When you’re a first-team all-star (like Haliburton), you don’t get a lot of easy looks. Everyone goes for your No. 1 player in every scouting report.
“A guy flies at you, and if you pass him, another guy comes. There was a really good synergy between Tyrese and Pascal.”
Since being traded to Indiana by the Toronto Raptors in January, Siakam leads the Pacers with 20.7 points on 55 percent shooting from the floor and 7.6 rebounds. Haliburton averages 20.4 points per game.
The two lead the NBA’s most prolific offense at 122.8 points per game, which features six active players averaging double-digit scoring. A seventh, Bennedict Mathurin (14.5 points), was lost for the season on March 5 with a shoulder injury.
In the seven games since Mathurin’s injury, TJ McConnell has scored at least 13 points in five games, including the last four in a row. He finished with 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting and six assists in Detroit.
Golden State (36-32) looks to sweep the Pacers for the first time since 2018-19. The Warriors are also looking to climb from the final play-in spot in the Western Conference. They sit in 10th place after their 137-116 home loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday.
Golden State hasn’t won consecutive games since last winning a three-game winning streak on March 1, going 4-5 since.
The Warriors rank seventh in the league with 118.6 points per game, but have scored less than that average in five of their last six losses. Golden State’s defense, which has given up 116.8 points per game to rank 20th in the NBA, has allowed 123.8 points in its last five losses.
In winning its last four games, Golden State has averaged 125.5 points and faces an Indiana defense allowing 120.7 points per game, third in the league.
“It’s been a very eventful year for our team,” Warriors guard Chris Paul said. “Every time we come to the arena we don’t know who’s playing, which is unfortunate, but that’s part of the league. So we’re excited when we see everyone in the lineup. It gives us a comfort level.
“Playing in this league for so long, you know what it means at this time of year.”
Paul, who averages 7.1 assists per game, missed 24 games, including Golden State’s 131-109 win over Indiana on Feb. 8. Stephen Curry had 42 points and shot 11 of 16 from 3-point range. the previous meeting.
Curry’s performance at Indiana remains his best performance since scoring 60 against Atlanta on February 3. He is averaging 26.8 points per game this season.
