SAN FRANCISCO — The Golden State Warriors fell to the Indiana Pacers 123-111 on Friday night, leaving them one-and-a-half games behind the ninth-place Los Angeles Lakers and just games in front of the Houston Rockets in 11th. Let's dive into three in-depth reactions from the Warriors' dispiriting loss to the Pacers.

Third quarter dooms Dubs

Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) looks to pass as Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) defends during the second half at Chase Center
John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports

Tyrese Haliburton's buzzer-beating 35-footer to close out the first half, unfortunately, proved a harbinger of what was coming for the Dubs. The Pacers came racing out of the halftime gates, picking up right where they left off from the last few minutes of the second quarter to completely change the tenor of Friday's game.

The Warriors' 12-point early lead became a 12-point deficit with just under three minutes left in the third quarter. Overwhelmed defensively by Indiana's relentless pace, their sudden inability to knock down shots and create efficient offense only exacerbated problems on the other end. Golden State let those two-way struggles fester mentally, too, getting out-played and out-hustled by a Pacers team also fighting like hell for postseason seeding.

“They just pushed the ball down our throats and got out in transition. I thought they were the more physical team as well,” Steve Kerr said after the game. “When we had that lead, they made the push at the end of the second and then also at the beginning of the third. It just didn't seem like we were getting to the loose balls, and they were out-competing us there for a little bit.”

Indiana outscored the Warriors 36-21 in the third quarter, shooting 57.7% from the field compared to the home team's 30.8%. The Pacers had four steals and five blocks, too, with Myles Turner dominating at the rim defensively. No one at Chase Center was surprised when Haliburton capped his team's game-changing quarter with another ridiculous, high-arching triple just before the game clock struck zero, shoving Golden State into a 102-88 hole entering the final stanza.

Turnovers mar Golden State's comeback hopes

The Warriors' overall effort and intensity wasn't their biggest problem on Friday. As they frantically fought to compensate for that disastrous third quarter, it was actually their restless, impatient hopes of a comeback that ultimately did them in.

After committing just three turnovers before intermission, Golden State coughed up 11 giveaways in the second half—several of which came in inexplicable, back-breaking fashion. This should be a layup for Draymond Green—stamping Indiana's momentum late in the third quarter—but Brandin Podziemski saw him late, allowing Haliburton an easy pick.

Jonathan Kuminga made a concerted effort to push the ball up the floor from the opening tip, often creating good looks for the Dubs early in the shot block. But he picks up his dribble after getting cutoff by Jalen Smith on this possession midway through the quarter, then panics after failing to immediately find a release valve, throwing the ball above Klay Thompson's head out of bounds.

The Pacers finally slowed down offensively in the fourth quarter, shooting 7-of-19 overall and 1-of-6 from three-point range while committing four turnovers. Those labors gave Golden State the chance for a last-gasp comeback, getting its deficit below double-digits under the three-minute mark in part because Stephen Curry cut his typical rest short.

Down 119-111 with 1:05 left, though, the Dubs' anxious execution came back to bite them again. Trying to hit Green with a cross-court lob so he could get Curry a quick-hitting look at three or find an open Chris Paul as two defenders ran with the greatest shooter ever, Thompson instead sailed the inbounds pass into the Warriors' bench.

There was still a minute left on the clock, but Thompson's turnover effectively sealed the Warriors' disappointing defeat.

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Jonathan Kuminga's rare off night

John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports
John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports

Kuminga entered Friday's action averaging 22.4 points over his last eight games, making less than half of his shots just once during that timeframe—a 5-of-11, 19-point performance in the Warriors' home loss to the Chicago Bulls in early March. He hadn't truly struggled since Golden State's historic blowout loss to the Boston Celtics a few days earlier, a game that was effectively over halftime in which he played just 19 minutes.

Kuminga wasn't as bad against Indiana as his numbers suggest. He was a transition engine from the opening tip, regularly made the right play offensively and fought hard on the glass. Without the jumper working, though, Kuminga was relegated to putting his head down and forcefully charing toward the rim, where the length of Turner, Smith and Pascal Siakam bothered him more often than not.

He finished with 11 points on 4-of-17 shooting, those 13 misses counting as a whopping four more than Kuminga had thrown up in any other game this season.

“Didn't know he was 4-for-17,” Chris Paul said of Kuminga after the game. “It's the league, man, it's 82 games. As much as we all wanna be great every night, it's hard. It's hard, especially when you're playing as well as he is. He's starting to be on people's scouting reports.”

Curry was only slightly more efficient than Kuminga, needing 24 shots to score 25 points. Once Klay Thompson's hot hand cooled off midway through the second quarter, Golden State just couldn't muster any semblance of consistency, finishing with a putrid 104.7 offensive rating—the Dubs'eighth-worst mark of the season.