The Golden State Warriors simply can’t find any semblance of rhythm

Whenever the Golden State Warriors appear on the verge of hitting top gear, they’re commonly knocked back a step and often at the hands of inferior opposition. That was the case again on Monday night as the reigning NBA champions suffered a shock loss to an undermanned Indiana Pacers.

Golden State seemed destined to match a season-best three-game win-streak, but the Pacers had other ideas despite the absence of their best player and key playmaker in Tyrese Haliburton, starting center Myles Turner, and second-year forward Chris Duarte.

The Golden State Warriors continued their inconsistent and underwhelming season with a 112-104 loss to the Indiana Pacers on Monday night.

The Warriors’ struggles have so often been accredited to their bench and defense through the first quarter of the season, but that simply can’t be said across their past two losses over the last week.

Golden State narrowly fell to the Dallas Mavericks last Tuesday in a game that remained competitive only thanks to their bench unit. Now, their latest loss against Indiana came through a fractured offense led by a season-worst performance from Stephen Curry.

On one hand, the Warriors were probably due a loss at home after starting the season 11-1, and Curry is certainly permitted a stinker given the many virtuoso performances he’s displayed. But on the other hand, this was a downright embarrassing loss that continues a trend of defeats against lesser teams.

The Warriors were off from the start as they fell behind 10-2 in the opening minutes, 34-21 by the end of the first period, then 40-24 early in the second-quarter. They would then go on a 20-2 run to take the lead before the Pacers settled and re-opened a nine-point half-time lead.

The game then ebbed-and-flowed but when the Warriors started the fourth-quarter on a 17-8 run, the result looked like it would finish in expected fashion. Yet after hitting the lead at 98-97, Golden State would score just four points in the final 5:30 as Indiana completed their stunning win.

Curry was the chief culprit as he shot just 3-for-17 from the field for 12 points. The Warriors were without Andrew Wiggins and they simply didn’t get the offensive explosion that Steve Kerr would have expected when starting his three-guard lineup of Curry, Jordan Poole and Klay Thompson. The latter did lead the Dubs with eight threes and 28 points, but he shot just 1-for-7 from two-point range and less than 40% from the field overall.

For the Pacers, it was Andrew Nembhard who stole the show with a mammoth 31 points, eight rebounds and 13 assists, with the performance coming after a buzzer-beating three to beat the Los Angeles Lakers on the road last week.

Golden State shot 40.4% from the field and 29.5% from three, showing they missed Wiggins’ offense even more so than his defense. He’ll be an important recall to the starting lineup when they face the Jazz in Utah on Wednesday night.