Copyright The Mercury News
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 Tyrese Haliburton. 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 114-109 upset. Quenton Jackson buried a triple with 35 seconds remaining to give the pacers a lead it would not relinquish, and then padded it with a fadeaway bank shot. Indiana won its first game in six tries despite Jimmy Butler’s 20 points and his dunk that tied the game at 109 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 the stars of last year’s playoff run. They combined for 58 points. After falling behind by as much as six in the third, a quirky lineup of Gui Santos, Al Horford, Buddy Hield, Brandin Podziemski and Moses Moody helped cut the deficit to just one before Jimmy Butler’s two free throws gave the Warriors a brief lead. Butler scored seven points in the final three minutes of the third quarter – off a 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 Curry triple. But Indiana just would not die. Nesmith and Quenton Jackson fueled a 9-0 run over the ensuing three minutes. Podziemski scored 16 and Steph Curry put in 24 on 8 of 23 shooting, with 18 of those points coming in the first half. The Warriors (4-3) will return to action at Chase Center against the Suns on Tuesday. Kuminga rules the skies 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 scored 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.
