By Johnnie Clay - Pacers Insider.
March 3, 2004 - 3:30 AM.

He's baaack. Ron Artest took to the floor tonight for the first time in three weeks. His minutes were watched, but it was the same old Artest, created havoc and racking up fouls. And on his first game back, when his team needed him, he responded...scoring seven straight points in the closing minutes to help the Indiana Pacers hold on to defeat the Golden State Warriors this evening 96-88.

Earlier on, it didn't look like they would need their inspirational leader much as the Pacers came out on fire. Shooting 58% (11-19), the Pacers led 28-17at the end of the first quarter, a quarter that included a 22-6 run to start things off.

In the second quarter, the Pacers continued to put the pressure on the Warriors. Reggie Miller scored 11 points in that quarter, 9 of those points came via the three-pointer as the Pacers began to pull away, leading 52-36 at halftime.

The beginning of the third quarter gave every indication that the Pacers were simply going to bury the Warriors. An early 9-0 run pushed the score to 61-36.

The Warriors, led by second year player Mike Dunleavy went to work. Capitalizing on the Pacers sloppy shot selection, Dunleavy and the Warriors started to chop away at the large Pacers lead.
Dunleavy, (who finished the game with 24 points and a staggering 20 rebounds) and Jason Richardson helped the Warriors close out the third quarter with a 27-10 run, leaving them trailing by just eight points, 71-63 at the end of three quarters.

"They were hitting shots. We were getting shots, but we were playing faster than we wanted to at that particular time, and the tempo began to move at a fever. " Coach Rick Carlisle said about that furious third quarter as the Pacers saw their huge lead start to slip away as the fourth quarter began.

The Warriors continued their momentium in the early part of the quarter, getting as close as six or five points, only to have the Pacers shooters, (primarly Jonathan Bender) hit crucial buckets to push the lead back up to double-figures.

The Pacers offense went cold again, hitting just one basket during a six-minute span while the Warriors made another run at the lead, closing to within six points again. The level of intensity rose considerably, until it exploded.

Jermaine O'Neal and the Warriors' Cliff Robinson were both ejected with 3:32 remaining in the game. The two had been exchanging words throughout the game and picked up double-technicals after bumping under the basket.

The chatter continued as both players walked to the other end of the floor and were hit with another set of double technicals and ejected. Teammates and coaches intervened to keep the two separated as they were led off the floor, still exchanging harsh words.

Afterwards, O'Neal talked about the altercation with Robinson.

"Sometimes it is like when you get into a fight with a family member, and things are said." I have known him since '96 when he (Cliff) took me under his wing. I was able to learn a lot. I have no hard feelings, it was just a scuffle in the heat of a basketball game."

The "heat" carried over into the remaining three minutes, as both teams exchanged baskets over and over. Artests' clutch shots were countered by baskets by Dunleavy.

Jason Richardon hit one of two free-throws to cut Pacers' lead down to just four points, 87-83 with close to a minute left. Then Al Harrington nailed a clutch jump shot with 1:01 remaining, ending all hopes of a dramatic Warriors comeback..

"You are away from home, and you get up by 25 points, and that other team is going to make a run, especially with a team like Golden State that has a lot of offensive weapons." Carlisle said

"We kept our composure and did what we had to do. We knew that this was going to be a tough game with their point guards Van Exel and Claxton or not, and I am really happy that we hung together when the game became close."

Carlisle also talked about the breakout game by the Warriors' Mike Dunleavy.

"He played great. Having 24 points and grabbing 20 rebounds while playing point guard is pretty impressive. Not only can he shoot the ball, but he is deceptively quick and drives the ball well. His ability to get to the rim and get fouled was the main reason that they were able to get back into the game."

Reggie Miller, returned to his old familar self tonight, scoring 21 points and 5 assists. Miller nailed five three-pointers tonight and spoke about the importance to a tough win, especially on the road and against a Western Conference team.

“It is always tough in this league to win, especially to defeat a Western Conference team twice in one season. They gave us all we could handle at our place, so we knew we were in for a challenge here. What we wanted to do was get off to a lead quickly which we did."

"We were settling for a lot of outside shots in the third quarter, you have to give them a lot of credit, because they could have easily gone south, but they did not. Coach Mussleman and his players have a lot of pride and made a game out of this."

Sporadic shooting was evident throughout the whole Pacers' lineup. Jermaine O'Neal scored 12 points and pulled in 7 rebounds. However, O'Neal was (4-17) from the floor. That bad average must have been contageous as Al Harrington went (6-17) from the floor too, scoring 16 points, yet pulling down 12 rebounds.

Ron Artests' first game back produced 12 points and 6 rebounds before fouling out in the final minutes and Jamaal Tinsley continued his spectacular play, scoring 11 points, 9 assists and 4 steals.

As team, the Pacers shot 41% (31-76) from the floor, 72% (36-76) from the free-throw line and a dramatic 40% (8-20) from the arc.

Tonight's win improved the Pacers record to 44-16 overall, 20-10 on the road and an NBA-best 15-6 against the Western Conference.

The Pacers will now put that 15-6 record on the line again in less than 24 hours, as they fly down to Los Angeles to take on the Clippers. The two teams last met back on November 19th, with the Pacers winning 91-78 at Conseco Fieldhouse. At that game, both teams were without some of their starters. The Clippers were without Marko Jaric and Elton Brand, while the Pacers were without Jermaine O'Neal, who sat out that game with tendinitis in his right knee. The win was the Pacers fourth consecutive victory over the Clippers and the 18th in the last 20 games.

Game Time Wednesday is at 10:30pm (EST).