Warriors fall flat to shorthanded Pacers
SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors fell flat Monday night against the shorthanded Indiana Pacers who pulled off a 112-104 win behind rookie guard Andrew Nembhard’s 31-point and 13-assist effort.
Golden State, playing in its third game in four days, was sluggish out of the gates, allowing the Pacers to jump to a double figure lead early. The Warriors rallied back in the fourth and took a one-point lead three times but were unable to get enough stops to kill Indiana’s momentum.
Stephen Curry made a pair of free throws that gave Golden State a one-point advantage at the 4:42 mark. But the Pacers responded by closing out the game on a 13-4 run to put an end to the Warriors’ 10-game home win streak.
“When the game is not going your way, you’ve got to be able to get stops and score in transition and we never really contained them defensively,” coach Steve Kerr said after the rare home loss. “Our defense wasn’t able to lead us to offensive transition.”
Klay Thompson led the Warriors in scoring, finishing with 28 points. His eight 3s moved him past Jason Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki on the NBA’s all-time 3-point list for 13th place, an accomplishment Thompson said means a lot to him.
“I grew up loving both of those guys, especially Dirk as a shooter and J-Kidd just as a baller, Bay legend,” Thompson said. “I don’t take that for granted.”
A flurry of Thompson’s triples came in the second quarter during which the Warriors overcame a 16-point deficit to knot the game up at 42. The Pacers finished the half with a 17-8 run to take a nine-point lead into the break.
The Warriors were playing without Andrew Wiggins, their best wing defender, who’s dealing with muscle tightness in his right leg. And the Pacers made them pay.
It also didn’t help that Curry had an uncharacteristic off night and never really got into the rhythm. He opened the game with 1 of 7 shooting for only four points in the first half before finishing with a season-low 12 points. With his shots not falling, he looked to get his teammates more involved. Curry contributed six assists and four rebounds.
“They did a good job on Steph, trapping him,” Kerr said. “They’ve got some long, athletic bigs so they switched and trapped quite a bit on the perimeter and just tried to keep him off the 3-point line as much as they could and we just didn’t attack well enough.”
With Wiggins out, Jordan Poole got his sixth starting nod of the season. He finished with 23 points, five rebounds and four assists. Donte DiVincenzo added 10 points, seven rebounds and three steals off the bench.
“They kind of punched us in the mouth early in the first quarter and they tried to disrupt the flow of our offense and make it one-on-one situation which we can play that way but it’s not necessarily a way for us to dig ourselves out of a hole,” Curry said. “Collectively, we couldn’t put it together on both ends down the stretch and they made plays.”
Nembhard is the first player to have 30-plus points and 10-or-more assists in their first-career game against the Warriors, according to Elias Sports Bureau. He also snatched eight rebounds for the Pacers, who were without Tyrese Haliburton and Myles Turner. Five other Pacers finished in double-digit scoring, including starter Buddy Hield who had 17 points, nine rebounds and five assists.
Golden State (13-12) will hit the road to play the Utah Jazz Wednesday in Salt Lake City. The Warriors have had far more success at Chase Center, where they’re 11-2, than on the road, where they’re 2-10.
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