Martinez Tribune The website of the Martinez Tribune.
BY DANIEL GLUSKOTER
In one of their worst performances of the season, the Warriors were ambushed by a strong performance from the injury decimated Indiana Pacers Thursday night at Chase Center, falling 121-117 in overtime.
Playing against a badly outmanned Indiana team that came into the game with a 16-29 record, third worst in the Eastern Conference, and missing four of its top five scorers, the resilient Pacers forced the game into an extra period with a 27-foot three pointer by Justin Holiday to tie the game at 110-110 with just six seconds remaining in regulation.
Klay Thompson goes around Indiana’s Chris Duarte during the Warriors 121-117 overtime loss to the Pacers Thursday night.
Golden State appeared to regain their poise at the start of the extra period, jumping out to a five point lead, but was outscored 11-2 over the final 3:30 as they were only able to convert one of their last nine shots down the stretch. The Warriors also committed 21 turnovers and only shot 21.4% (9-42) from three point range.
Stephen Curry led all scorers with 39 points, while Kevon Looney had another solid game, recording his third double-double of the season with 13 points and 15 rebounds. Indiana was led by Chris Duarte with 27, while Holiday added 16. Isaiah Jackson posted 15 points and seven rebounds off the bench.
Indiana’s Isaiah Jackson goes up for a shot during the Pacers overtime win against Golden State Thursday night at Chase Center.
After the game, Warriors coach Steve Kerr stepped up and took responsibility for the sloppy effort; “I blame myself, number one. I didn’t think I did a good job preparing the team to be ready to play. Anytime a team has half their guys missing, it’s like the same old story in the NBA. All the guys who don’t play, they can’t wait to get out there. They made 15 threes. They just took it to us all night and I did not do a good job of preparing the group and it was a struggle. We just couldn’t really get stops consistently and I give Indiana great credit. Their guys stepped up and made plays, made big shots and we had some huge turnovers in the second half, I think we had 14 in the second half and those really hurt.”
The Warriors return to the court Friday night for a matchup with the Houston Rockets, owners of the worst record in the Western Conference (14-33). Tip-off is scheduled for 7PM.
GAME NOTES:
The Warriors entered the game as 16.5-point favorites, making the loss the third largest upset of the Steve Kerr era.
Golden State lost for the first time against an Eastern Conference team at home this season, falling to 9-1, and is now 0-2 in overtime games.
Steph Curry extended his NBA-record 3-point streak to 166 consecutive games.
The game marked the Warriors 400th consecutive sellout.
