The Golden State Warriors have no panicked about their slow start to the season, and it’s not hard to see why. They’ve had a brutal schedule which, combined with some absences, has made their losses somewhat
understandable … if still frustrating.
But a loss on Sunday would not have been understandable. Yes, the Warriors were playing without Steph Curry, but they were at home facing an Indiana Pacers squad that was without Tyrese Haliburton, Aaron Nesmith, Pascal Siakam, T.J. McConnell, Bennedict Mathurin, Obi Toppin, Quenton Jackson … and more. A Pacers team that had just one win on the year … against the Warriors.
Winning was the only acceptably outcome, and it took the Warriors quite a while to get there. But when they got there … my goodness did they get there, as they sent the fans at the Chase Center home happy with a 114-83 victory.
Call it delayed dominance. Despite the lopsided score, it was anyone’s game for nearly three quarters, the result of the Warriors proving incapable of making any shots. It was such an offensively challenged that, up until the fourth quarter, my working headline was Warriors win/lose battle of the bricks.
Thing did start well for the Warriors, though. They were scrappy and effective early, if not graceful. Their defense was swarming, and they weren’t allowing any good looks to the Pacers, and jumped out to a 13-4 lead. But the offense quickly grew stale, and suddenly the Warriors couldn’t make anything.
It wasn’t a case of the Dubs being plagued by the issues that have been burning them lately. They were taking care of the ball, and there was a fair amount of movement. They simply could not make shots. The Pacers took their first lead with less than two minutes remaining, at 16-15, and only a little life at the end of the frame granted the Warriors the lead after one, 23-21.
The second quarter brought nothing in the way of rhythm, grace, or basketball worth watching. It was a grind. The grind of all grinds. My notes for the second quarter include the phrase, “good defense, no offense,” and I don’t think I needed any additional notes.
It stayed that way for the bulk of the quarter, until they finally started. to figure things out late. Their defense against the hapless Pacers remained strong and, thanks to some heroics by Jimmy Butler III, they were starting to score, too. The Dubs rattled off 11 straight to take a 12-point lead with about a minute left, but stumbled right before the break, and led just 48-41 at the half. We all took the time to wash our eyes after witnessing 24 minutes of that monstrosity.
But if the first two quarters were ugly, the third shifted to concerning. The Warriors had played borderline unwatchable first-half basketball, yet still had a comfortable lead, but that evaporated when the third quarter began. The Pacers, so cold all night, finally started to make shots. Less than four minutes into the quarter, the Pacers had tied the game. And despite Butler putting the team on his back, Indiana took the lead just past the halfway mark of the third.
The quarter was winding towards an end, and the Warriors were flirting with a truly atrocious defeat. They were tied at 65, and it was truly anyone’s game … if anyone could just make a shot.
And then the Warriors started to make shots. And make shots. And make shots. And make some more shots. They ended the quarter on a 10-0 run, which was capped by a sensational, spinning, shot-clock beating four-point play by Moses Moody with 4.8 seconds remaining. That gave them a 75-65 entering the fourth, and finally some momentum.
The momentum only built. Golden State scored four points immediately upon the start of the final frame, forcing Rick Carlisle to call a timeout less than 30 seconds into the quarter. It did nothing. After bricking and bricking and bricking some more, the Warriors were making up for lost time, and couldn’t miss. Moody was draining shots. Al Horford was making it rain. Will Richard was filling up the stat sheet.
Golden State quickly ballooned the lead to 20 points,, and from there it only grew larger and larger. After 75 points through three quarters, the Warriors had scored 39 in the fourth quarter alone. And after being tied 65-65 after 33 minutes, the Warriors closed the final 15 on a 49-18 run, and secured the least dominant blowout victory possible.
