On the second-leg of a road back-to-back, the 16-29 Indiana Pacers were down Domantas Sabonis, Myles Turner, Malcolm Brogdon and Caris LeVert against the Golden State Warriors at San Francisco’s Chase Center.
While being down four of their core pieces, it didn’t seem to matter for the Pacers in an underdog performance on Thursday in the Bay Area.
After going up by eight before halftime, the Warriors couldn’t stretch a lead out against the Pacers early in the contest. As Golden State’s offense went quiet, Indiana took advantage to tie the game before the fourth quarter.
Keifer Sykes and the Pacers continued to hang around, matching the Warriors up and down the court in the fourth period. After Steph Curry willed the ice-cold Warriors to a three-point advantage with under 10 seconds remaining in the contest, Justin Holiday drilled a clutch 3-pointer to send the game into overtime after Golden State chose not to foul with the lead.
After the Warriors tallied the first five points in overtime, the Pacers notched 10 unanswered to hold a five-point lead of their own. An Andrew Wiggins alley-oop helped cut the Pacers’ lead to a single possession, but the Warriors couldn’t answer. Curry received an open look from beyond the arc to tie the game, but couldn’t land the jumper.
While the Warriors collected another chance to tie the contest late, an errant pass from Andre Iguodala that landed off the hands of Klay Thompson spoiled a chance at late heroics for Golden State. Despite being shorthanded, the Pacers hung on to hand the Warriors an ugly loss at home, 121-117.
Rookie Chris Duarte led the Pacers with 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the floor with seven boards and three assists in 39 minutes. Six other members of the Pacers notched double-figure scoring efforts.
Curry tallied a game-high 39 points on 12-of-27 shooting from the floor with eight assists and five boards in 44 minutes, but it wasn’t enough to carry Golden State on Thursday night.
Curry hit six of the Warriors’ nine 3-pointers on the evening. Thompson, Jordan Poole and Wiggins combined to go 1-of-18 from deep on the night. Cold shooting from long distance paired with 21 turnovers hampered Golden State’s effort to put the gritty Pacers away.
After the Pacers’ upset win in overtime against the Warriors, the NBA community on Twitter exploded with different reactions. Here’s a look at what fans and analysts were saying on Thursday night.
The post originally appeared on Warriors Wire. Follow Warriors Wire on Facebook and Twitter.
Hard to put words to that loss.
No Brogdon, Turner, LeVert or Sabo and still push the Warriors to an upset OT win on the second leg of a road back-to-back at Chase. Really gritty performance from Carlisle’s squad.
W’s issues on full display without Draymond.
— Tommy Call III (@tommy_III) January 21, 2022
Just realized this looking at the final box score …
Wiggins/Thompson/Poole combined:
• 28 points
• 12-for-39 FGs (30.8%)
(including 2-for-18 from three)
• 2-for-4 FTs
• 7 assists
• 8 rebounds— Marcus Thompson (@ThompsonScribe) January 21, 2022
Warriors miss Draymond’s facilitating abilities. He’s one of the best at the elbow action with Steph. Bc IQ but also has had years of practice. Hard to replace but great reps for other guys
— Festus Ezeli (@FestusEzeli) January 21, 2022
Warriors since the Christmas win vs Phoenix:
5-7
104.7 ORTG (28th)
104.2 DRTG (2nd)
70.2 AST% (2nd)
14.8 TOV% (28th)
54.3 TS% (24th)— Alex (@dbs408) January 21, 2022
Poole/Klay/Wiggins 12/39 shooting including 1/18 from 3.
How is that even possible?
— warriorsworld (@warriorsworld) January 21, 2022
Warriors took … checks stats … 19 threes in the final 17 minutes. They made 4.
Over the same span, they took 15 twos. They made 8.
— Marcus Thompson (@ThompsonScribe) January 21, 2022
Terrible loss for the Warriors.
Insult to injury: Curry played 44 minutes, Iguodala 31, Wiggins 38. And now they gotta beat Houston on Friday
— Marcus Thompson (@ThompsonScribe) January 21, 2022
One possession Loss… in which the Warriors:
– 21 Turnovers
– 9/42 from 3
– fouled 3pt shooter at end of 3Q
– up 3 under 10 sec, don’t foul and game goes to OT
– score first 5 points of OT then give up 11-2 run to end game— warriorsworld (@warriorsworld) January 21, 2022
Pacers 121, Warriors 117 in OT.
-Worst loss of the season.
-At Chase
-Curry 39, no one else more than 13 (Looney)
-Curry 6/16 from 3, all others 3/26
-Pacers on b2 without top four (or 5) players— Monte Poole (@MontePooleNBCS) January 21, 2022
Worst loss of the season for the Warriors. Fall at home to Pacers on a second night of a b2b without Sabonis, Turner, Brogdon, LeVert. Several untimely GSW defensive breakdowns. They went 9-of-42 from 3. Steph Curry: 44 minutes on front side of b2b. Klay/Wiggins/Poole: 12/39 FG.
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) January 21, 2022
Every postgame question should be about not fouling
— Brian Witt (@Wittnessed) January 21, 2022
gleague pacers execute a foul up 3…. meanwhile Warriors ..
— Lee Ji-Eun Netizen Account (@AndyKHLiu) January 21, 2022
Kuminga and GP2 not breaking 20 mins this game is disgusting
— Lee Ji-Eun Netizen Account (@AndyKHLiu) January 21, 2022
Warriors shot better, made more free throws, grabbed more boards, scored more points in the paint, scored more second-chance points, more fast break points
But they gave up 15 threes and made only 9
— Marcus Thompson (@ThompsonScribe) January 21, 2022
Warriors shot better, made more free throws, grabbed more boards, scored more points in the paint, scored more second-chance points, more fast break points
But they gave up 15 threes and made only 9
— Marcus Thompson (@ThompsonScribe) January 21, 2022
Worst L of the season. Kerr doesn’t foul at the end of regulation then doesn’t play GPII in OT. Makes no sense.
— Sean Jordan (@BaySean) January 21, 2022
As wide open as Steph can be..
— Lee Ji-Eun Netizen Account (@AndyKHLiu) January 21, 2022
Poole is so in his own head. Second-guessing everything.
— Brian Witt (@Wittnessed) January 21, 2022
Warriors led 115-110 with 3:15 left in OT…
Pacers 10-0 run.
120-115 with 1 min left
— warriorsworld (@warriorsworld) January 21, 2022
Non-Curry Warriors now 3-of-23 from 3 tonight.
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) January 21, 2022
No team better in the league at turning it over
— warriorsworld (@warriorsworld) January 21, 2022
We’re seeing tonight why Chris Duarte had some fans among the Warriors in pre-draft analysis.
— Monte Poole (@MontePooleNBCS) January 21, 2022
Duarte wanted to play for the Warriors bad. They wanted to draft him too.
— Jason Dumas (@JDumasReports) January 21, 2022
It would be hard not to assume that after all these minutes tonight, that Steph will join Klay and Andre on the bench tomorrow
— Grant Liffmann (@GrantLiffmann) January 21, 2022
Minute count biting Klay in OT. He’s probably on the bench fuming.
— Jason Dumas (@JDumasReports) January 21, 2022
It’s easy to blame Kerr for the loss, but is he responsible for all the wide open 3s that were missed? The 21 turnovers?
That’s a L the Warriors have to hold. Coaches and players. Again, bad loss, but one we’ll forget about by the All-Star break. ✌️ out.
— Bonta Hill (@BontaHill) January 21, 2022
The Warriors were 16.5-point favorites against the Pacers and lost.
That marks their 3rd-largest upset under Steve Kerr (since 2014-15) and the largest since March 2019 against the Suns (17-point favorites). pic.twitter.com/Bnz9NqbePq
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) January 21, 2022
The Warriors this season:
28-6 with Draymond
4-7 without DraymondThey have lost 6 of their last 9 games, including tonight to the Pacers missing 4 starters. pic.twitter.com/tMgbKfrWnC
— StatMuse (@statmuse) January 21, 2022
Pacers upset the Warriors 121-117. Down every starter and some bench guys, it didn’t matter – the Pacers reserves played a hell of a game and stole a win. Back to back road victories for the Pacers for the first time all season.
— Tony East (@TEastNBA) January 21, 2022
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