What we learned in Warriors' homestand-ending loss to Pacers originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
The Warriors and Indiana Pacers spent most of Tuesday night trying to use defense to suffocate the fight out of each other. There was, literally, blood on the court at Chase Center.
The Pacers, who played Monday night in Sacramento, ultimately looked like the fresher team, hanging a 104-95 defeat on the Warriors after closing the game on a 16-5 run.
Andrew Wiggins led Golden State scorers with 22 points -- he also had a career-high five blocks -- followed by Steph Curry with 20 and Kelly Oubre Jr. with 17.
The Warriors fell to 6-5 in the final game of a seven-game homestand.
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Here are three takeaways from the Warriors failing in their third attempt this season to win three consecutive games.
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Doomed by turnovers
After playing an excellent first quarter and a decent second, the Warriors entered the second half with a seven-point lead and a chance to push the Pacers' limits on the second night of a back-to-back.
Instead, they gave the Pacers a helping hand.
After committing only four turnovers, in the first half, the Warriors committed eight in the third quarter and 12 in the second half.
That’s too many empty Golden State possessions, and too many easy points for Indiana.
Third-quarter turnovers were behind the Pacers taking their first lead since the first quarter and, moreover, gave them a boost of energy that kept them in the game until the outlasted the Warriors.
Kelly Oubre Jr. finds rhythm
The Warriors have spent a couple weeks hoping Kelly Oubre Jr. would bust a slump that has kept his field-goal percentages among the worst in the league. He helped himself in this game.
Oubre scored 15 first-half points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field, including 3-of-4 from distance. He finished with 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting, including 3-of-7 beyond the arc. Oubre added five rebounds and two assists in finishing plus-six over 29 minutes.
The 25-year-old has scored in double figures in six of his last eight games, but this is only the third time this season that he shot better than 50 percent. The Warriors, and Oubre, would like to believe this is a trend.
The worst of it for Oubre came in the first quarter, when he took a Malcolm Brogdon elbow to under his right eye that left him bleeding. It was not serious, though, as he returned shortly after being bandaged.
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Second unit misses Paschall
With Eric Paschall out, coach Steve Kerr was forced to stitch together a second unit without its most impactful player this season.
That revamped squad -- Brad Wanamaker, Damion Lee, Kent Bazemore, James Wiseman (replacing Paschall) and Wiggins -- was about as disorganized as expected, opening the second quarter with a nine-point lead and giving it back in less than four minutes.
When Kerr went back to the group to open the fourth quarter, a three-point lead became a two-point deficit in fewer than four minutes.
Only two players on the group can get their own shot, and Paschall is one of them. The other, Wiggins, became the focus of Indiana’s defense.
