Stephen Curry struggled as the Golden State Warriors dropped to 4-3 with a 114-109 loss to the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Saturday. Curry had a rough shooting night and was careless with the ball against the Pacers, and took responsibility for the defeat postgame.
“This is one of those you look in the mirror,” Curry said. “There are parts of the game where I made it too hard on all of us with not getting organized, bad possessions, a little lack of energy. And you give a team like that life. Their record was a little misconceiving because they’ve been in a bunch of games, and they have enough talent where you saw they can make shots down the stretch.
“Just one of those rough games you got to play better throughout the meat of the game so that you give yourself that breathing room where a couple shots here and there don’t determine the outcome,” Curry added.
Curry finished with 24 points (8-23 FG), two assists, and one steal against the Pacers, who were 0-5 coming into this game. While the 37-year-old states the record is misleading, the hosts were without Tyrese Haliburton, Obi Toppin, T.J. McConnell, and Andrew Nembhard. No matter how you slice it, the Warriors should not have lost this game.
As for what part of his game frustrated him the most, Curry pointed to the start of the third quarter.
“I think just didn’t really get anything out of that run the whatever six minutes I was out there,” Curry stated. “And again, when you’re in that position, you have a bunch of empty minutes, you give a team life. It’s the NBA, there’s a lot of talent all over the league, and you don’t want to turn it into a shot here, shot there type of game, especially on the road. So, that first six minutes.
“The group that came in to finish the third and start the fourth, they were dominant,” Curry continued. “And then that kind of fed into the last six minutes. So, I got to be better just being more decisive, more aggressive, even not to shoot, but to playmake and get everybody organized.”
Curry had zero points on 0-3 shooting from the field in the third quarter. The 11-time All-Star also had two of his five turnovers on the night in the period.
The Pacers were leading 73-67 when Curry headed to the bench with just under six minutes remaining in the third quarter. By the time the two-time MVP re-entered with over six minutes left in the fourth, the Warriors were up 101-92. His teammates had completely turned the tide, but he was unable to build on all of their good work.
Curry would see the Pacers end the game on a 21-5 run to drop the Warriors to 0-2 on this short road trip. They had previously lost 120-110 to a Milwaukee Bucks team that was without Giannis Antetokounmpo, and these were just two brutal losses.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr called out the veterans and praised the youngsters after this latest defeat. Kerr thought the young players had done their job, but awful fourth-quarter execution from his team cost them the game.
Curry will be looking to make amends for these back-to-back defeats when the Warriors take on the Phoenix Suns at Chase Center on Tuesday at 10 PM ET.
