After dropping five of their past six games, the Oklahoma City Thunder were in desperate need of a win against the Indiana Pacers, with the Western Conference playoff race showing no signs of slowing down.
Paul George led the way with a game-high 31 points, while Russell Westbrook recorded his 29th triple-double of the season with 17 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds. Steven Adams dominated the paint with 25 points on 11-of-14 shooting, adding 12 rebounds, while Jerami Grant chipped in 19 points and seven rebounds.
With the 107-99 win, the Thunder now sit a game ahead of the San Antonio Spurs in the seventh seed.
Here's three takeaways from tonight's action...
Third quarter blitz
The Pacers entered halftime with a 54-45 lead following a strong second quarter in which they outscored the Thunder by 11 points.
They scored two quick baskets to open the third quarter, but the Thunder then took control by going on a 24-0 run to flip the game on its head.
It was the most unanswered points a team has scored this season.
24-0 run has the @okcthunder up after 3 quarters on @ESPNNBA!
— NBA (@NBA) March 28, 2019
#ThunderUp 76#Pacers 69
Paul George: 23 PTS
Steven Adams: 22 PTS, 10 REB
Russell Westbrook: 8 PTS, 10 REB, 9 AST pic.twitter.com/MYunUzTVfe
The Thunder shot 9-for-15 from the field and 4-for-6 from the 3-point line during that stretch. Steven Adams led the way with eight points, followed by Paul George (7) and Jerami Grant (6).
Russell Westbrook scored only three points on 1-for-4 shooting, but he chipped in with four rebounds and four assists, helping him secure yet another triple-double on the season.
The Pacers, meanwhile, missed all 14 of their shot attempts and turned the ball over twice.
Paul George in the zone
Paul George is really enjoying playing against his former team this season.
After scoring 36 points in a narrow loss against the Pacers earlier in the season, the league's second-leading scorer erupted for 31 points on 12-of-25 shooting on Wednesday.
George scored 12 of his 31 in the third quarter, and every time the Pacers tried to respond, he had an answer.
It was just one of those nights for George, who even got this circus shot to fall, going over the backboard, plus the foul to put his team up 10:
"That's a H.O.R.S.E. shot!"
— NBA (@NBA) March 28, 2019
PG is up to 31 PTS on @ESPNNBA. pic.twitter.com/d7XNiIeqKI
The battle for fourth
With the loss, the Pacers are now only one game ahead of the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference standings.
The two teams have an equally difficult remaining schedule per Tankathon, but the Celtics and Pacers still have two games remaining in their season series with each other, one at Boston (March 29), the other at Indiana (April 5).
With only a couple of weeks to go until the end of the regular season, the outcome of those games could go a long way in deciding which team ultimately gets homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs.