INDIANAPOLIS – Everything lined up for an easy Warriors victory on Saturday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
To call Indianapolis, coming off a Finals appearance, injury-riddled was an understatement. Six Pacers players were ruled out with various ailments before the game, among them All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton, who is likely out for the season after tearing his Achilles in the Finals.
And yet, just as the Warriors had done in Thursday’s loss in Milwaukee, Golden State let a depleted team from the Midwest hang around and, eventually, pull off the double-digit fourth-quarter comeback in a 114-109 upset.
Quenton Jackson buried a triple with 35 seconds remaining to give the Pacers a lead they would not relinquish, and then he padded it with a fadeaway bank shot.
“We didn’t execute on offense, we didn’t execute on defense, we fouled, we turned it over,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “We didn’t deserve to win.”
Indiana won its first game in six tries despite Jimmy Butler’s 20 points and a dunk that tied the game at 109-all with a minute left.
The Pacers may have been missing half of their roster, but the home team still had a core of Pascal Siakam and Aaron Nesmith running the show, two of their stars of last year’s playoff run. They combined for 58 points as Nesmith had 31 and Siakam 27.
After falling behind by as much as six in the third, a quirky Warriors lineup of Gui Santos, Al Horford, Buddy Hield, Brandin Podziemski and Moses Moody helped cut the deficit to just one before Butler’s two free throws provided a brief lead.
“That group …. they really flipped the game for us,” Kerr said. “It’s a shame we couldn’t close out the game for them.”
Butler scored seven points in the final three minutes of the third quarter – off three free throws, a midrange jumper and a reverse layup – to help give the Warriors an 88-82 lead going into the fourth quarter.
That advantage stretched to as much as 104-93 with six minutes left after a Steph Curry triple. But Indiana just would not die. Nesmith and Jackson fueled a 9-0 run over the ensuing three minutes.
Steph Curry scored 24 on 8 of 23 shooting, with 18 of those points coming in the first half. Podziemski added 16.
The Warriors (4-3) will return to action at Chase Center against the Suns on Tuesday.
“Nothing’s easy in the NBA, and everybody has got their tough schedules,” Kerr said. “You have to find a way to execute when you’re not at your best, and we did not do that.”
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Kuminga rules the skies
Jonathan Kuminga jammed four thunderous dunks against Indiana – the best being a baseline blow-by off a rocker step to tie the game at 67 in the third – but that was just the start of his high-flying highlights.
The now-entrenched starter repeatedly threw himself into the heart of the Pacers’ less-than-intimidating interior defense. He gave the struggling Warriors offense a much-needed jolt of life in the third quarter and finished with 17 points overall.
TJD’s quiet homecoming
Warriors big man Trayce Jackson-Davis returned to his home state, where the Hoosier was a superstar at Center Grove High and later Indiana University.
But as has often been the case this season, Jackson-Davis found no playing time in a crowded big-man rotation. He did not log a single minute against his hometown Pacers.
Pacers assistant coach Lloyd Pierce also faced his hometown team.
Pierce is a Santa Clara alum who was a prep star at Yerba Buena in San Jose. He was the Mercury News Central Coast Section Player of the Year in 1994.
