What we learned as short-handed Warriors fall to red-hot Pacers

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What we learned as short-handed Warriors fall to red-hot Pacers originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

BOX SCORE

There’s no questioning the Warriors’ heart and hustle Friday night in their 108-96 loss to the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Sometimes being down six players is just too much to overcome.

The Warriors were without Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins, Jonathan Kuminga, Gray Payton II and Brandin Podziemski. Depth was beyond tested.

Buddy Hield scored a team-high 17 points, but on 6-of-19 shooting and was 3 of 12 from 3-point range. Fellow backcourt mate Dennis Schroder only gave Golden State 12 points on 5-of-13 shooting as just one of his six 3-point attempts went through.

Perhaps the biggest bright spot was Pat Spencer, a two-way player who tied Hield in the team’s scoring lead by dropping 17 points.

Both the Warriors (19-19) and Pacers (21-18) struggled shooting, but the Pacers made five more shots despite having eight fewer attempts.

Here are three takeaways from the Warriors’ 12-point loss to the Pacers.

Santa Cruz Pipeline

If Thursday night was all about Gui Santos, Spencer took the mantle early on Friday night. Spencer served as the Warriors’ backup point guard with Curry out, and has done an admirable guard with the ball in his hands whenever given an opportunity. Rare is he a scorer first.

But on a night the Warriors were beyond short-handed, they needed points from anybody and everybody, including Spencer. His seven points in the first quarter alone gave him a new career high. Spencer was at nine points by halftime, and four more brought him to 13 through three quarters.

As part of his night to remember, Spencer made a 3-pointer for the first time in his NBA career.

And he wasn’t alone in former, and current, Santa Cruz Warriors giving their best on a bigger stage. Santos followed his impressive showing by being a team-high plus-9 in 23 minutes off the bench. Santos scored 11 points, two off his career high from the previous night, and also had three assists and three steals.

Quinten Post, the Warriors’ lone pick in the 2024 NBA Draft at No. 52 overall, was called…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/learned-short-handed-warriors-fall-023721107.html

Author : NBC Sports BayArea

Publish date : 2025-01-11 02:49:00

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