Warriors squander fourth-quarter lead and fall to injury-riddled Pacers

Joseph Dycus, The Mercury News on Nov 1, 2025

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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, who is out for the season while recovering from surgery for a ruptured Achilles tendon.

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 they 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 key players, but the home team still had a core of Pascal Siakam (27 points) and Aaron Nesmith (31), two of the stars of last year’s playoff run, running the show.

After falling behind by as much as six in the third, a quirky Warriors lineup of Gui Santos, Al Horford, Buddy Hield, Brandin Podziemski and Moses Moody helped cut the deficit to one before 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 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 score was 104-93 with six minutes left after a Steph Curry triple. But Indiana would not go away. Nesmith and Jackson fueled a 9-0 run over the ensuing three minutes.

Podziemski scored 16 and 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

Jonathan 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.

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.

Pierce is a Santa Clara alum who was a prep star at Yerba Buena in San Jose. He was the Mercury News Central Coast Section Player of the Year in 1994.