The Golden State Warriors succumbed to an upset of epic proportions against the Indiana Pacers on Thursday night. The Dubs fell 121-117 to a lowly Pacers squad that was missing arguably their six best players not named Chris Duarte for the contest.

Stephen Curry didn't have much help in this one. The Warriors point guard finished with 39 points on 12-for-27 shooting, playing a team-high 44 minutes and virtually carrying the offense single-handedly against a balanced Pacers attack.

Arguably the biggest underperformer on the night was Jordan Poole, who made just one shot out of seven attempts and had only five points in 25 minutes. Poole also missed badly on two game-tying 3-pointers in the final 23 seconds of overtime, failing to even hit the rim on either one, before Stephen Curry missed their final attempt on the evening:

After the game, Stephen Curry was vocal about Jordan Poole and the challenges he's facing right now with a drastic role shift since the return of Klay Thompson.

Via Anthony Slater of The Athletic:

“It's tough. It's the nature of the NBA,” said Stephen Curry on Jordan Poole's new role off the Warriors bench. “Something I know is not a surprise in terms of his role changing with Klay back. It's just maintaining his aggressiveness and his confidence in himself that he can make plays and get himself into the game a little quicker coming off the bench.”

“I’ve never had to do that, so you don’t know what it physically feels like, mentally feels like to find your way coming off the bench like that, but I just want him to be assertive, be aggressive.”

In the six games Jordan Poole has played behind Klay Thompson this season, he has gone a brutal 19-for-56 (33.9%) from the field and 8-for-33 (24.2%) from the 3-point arc.

It's no surprise that his best game since Klay's debut was during the second night of the Warriors‘ back-to-back set in which Thompson didn't play. Jordan Poole finished that game with 22 points on a solid 8-for-19 shooting clip and went 5-for-9 from distance.

Curry was vocal that it is just a matter of time before Jordan Poole figures out his new role. The Warriors need him to do just that, and Steph has faith he'll get things sorted out with experience:

“Just see the floor the way he can and know that it's going to get better as he continues to get the reps,” Stephen Curry continued. “That's all you can ask for is just being locked in mentally and try to assert yourself as quickly as possible when you get in the game. We obviously need him to be impactful, be a threat and do what we all believe he's capable of doing.”

The Golden State Warriors have sputtered as of late, winning just three of their last nine contests.

With Draymond Green missing most of those games, Klay Thompson getting his feet wet, and Jordan Poole finding his new place in the hierarchy, growing pains were to be expected. But just as Stephen Curry believes that Jordan Poole will find his way with time, so too will the Warriors.