The Indiana Pacers have been riddled with injuries for much of the season and headed into tonight's game with a pedestrian record (to their standard) of 14-22. They are definitely missing their star and one of the best players in the NBA, Paul George, who has missed every game so far and is expected to miss the whole 2014-2015 season. Besides being without George tonight, Indiana was also without starting guards George Hill and Rodney Stuckey.

Andrew Bogut was expected to miss another few weeks with knee tendinitis, but he made a surprise appearance for the Golden State Warriors. He played only 15 minutes in the game, but with Golden State having the best record in the NBA and tremendous team depth, there is no point to rush him into big minutes and risk further injury. Nonetheless, it was a pleasant surprise seeing Bogut in a game uniform and on the court rather than a suit and sitting on the sidelines.

Golden State pulled out a 117-102 win, but the game was much tighter than the final score indicated. At the 6:08 mark in second quarter, Indiana had burst out to a 42-31 lead, but Golden State quickly rallied and tied the game up at 50 by halftime.

Klay Thompson catalyzed an early 10-0 burst in the first two minutes of the second half by dropping in eight of those 10 points. Indiana would then pull off a run of their own, cutting their deficit to only one at the 3:30 mark of the third quarter.

The Warriors pushed their lead back to eight at the end of the third quarter and then never let up for the rest of the game, maintaining a solid cushion.

Stephen Curry became the quickest player to hit 1,000 three pointers in his career, doing so in only 369 games, which is 88 fewer than the previous quickest record held by Dennis Scott.

The Warriors are now 15-1 at home this season and have pushed their current home winning streak to 13 games, which is the second longest (15 being first) streak since the team moved to the West coast.

Klay Thompson scored a game-high 40 points (14-25 fg, 6-11 3pt), one shy of his career high. Stephen Curry added 21 points (8-17 fg, 4-8 3pt), 15 assists and four steals. Marreese Speights contributed with 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting.

Solomon Hill led the Pacers with 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting. David West added 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting, seven rebounds, and six assists. Donald Sloan and Luis Scola chipped in 14 points apiece.

Golden State will look to improve on their five-game winning streak on Friday when they take on the Cleveland Cavaliers. Indiana will look to get back on track Friday against the Boston Celtics.

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About the author
Arthur Chernostrik
Born in Ukraine but raised in San Francisco, California. I Graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2014 with a B.S in Biology and plan to attend Medical School in the near future.