Steve Kerr slaps the Dubs with a sharp move after the Pacers’ loss

One loss on the way can be characterized as a coincidence. Two in a row, and it starts to become a problem. The The Golden State Warriors are down their second straight game against the previously winless Indiana Pacers in a narrow 114-109 road loss. It was a game where the Dubs’ lethargy and apparent lack of focus allowed the Pacers to hang on. Even as Golden State built a double-digit lead late in the fourth, turnovers and turnovers allowed Indiana to steal one on the back end of the game.

Pacers’ Quenton Jackson roasted the Warriors’ defense for 25 points, 12 of which came in the fourth quarter. Throw in Aaron Nesmith’s incredible 31 points and the ease with which Pascal Siakam racked up 27 points, and the Warriors’ obvious defensive struggles become that much more apparent. After the game, the head coach of the Dubs Steve Kerr expressed his frustration with the way Golden State handled it a short trip.

“It feels like we just gave away two games,” Kerr said, via ESPN’s Anthony Slater. “If we’re locked in, focused and playing the way we know we can play, we should have beaten them… We’ve got to find a way to be sharper and be better. There’s always tough nights during the season. This wasn’t supposed to be one of them. We had an off day yesterday, we didn’t shoot today, we had a lot of rest.”

The Warriors have had a brutal schedule from a rest standpoint to open the season, with seven games in the last 12 days. But as Kerr said, that doesn’t justify the losses. 16 lost teams are not due to fatigue. Offensive rotations are not due to fatigue. The inability to get up for a hungry Pacers team isn’t due to fatigue.

Curry takes the blame for the fourth quarter

That It didn’t help that Stephen Currythe Warriors’ engine, played a lackluster, low-energy game. The Dubs star had five turnovers and a -21 plus/minus on 4-of-16 from beyond the arc. After the game, Curry took the blame for Golden State’s problems throughout the loss.

“It’s one of those look-in-the-mirror (type of games). I’ve done too much to all of us,” Curry said. “With disorganization, bad possession, a little lack of energy. And you give life to a team like that… just one of those games where you have to play better throughout the game, so you give yourself some breathing room where a couple of shots here and there don’t determine the outcome.”

But nights like this will come and go for Curry. The bigger problem is the Dubs’ growing trend of not looking engaged in winnable games. The loss in Portland is understandable – the third game in four nights, early in the season. But the last two against the Milwaukee Bucks without Giannis Antetokounmpo and an Indiana team on the back end of back-to-backs are puzzling. For Jimmy Butlerwho cited bad turnovers and excessive fouling, emphasized that they return to the game as they are capable of playing.

“We’ll be fine, everybody just needs to do what they’re supposed to do. We’ve got to get back to playing our roles to a T,” Butler said. “I care whenever we turn it over. We care whenever our man scores. We guard as a team, we score as a team, everybody’s got to be on the same page. I think we’ve backed away from that a little bit. It’s not a bad thing, it’s not a bad thing, but we’ve got to go back to all five playing defense, all five playing defense.

The Warriors’ schedule only gets tougher

Losses like this are important, even early in the season. Kerr talked about how the last few seasons the Dubs’ playoff berth has been decided by one or two games. A game or two is the difference between a terrible playoff run and a favorable playoff seed. With eight of their next 10 games on the road, it won’t get any easier in this early part of the season. For Curry, the frustration stems from not being able to carry momentum from one impressive 4-1 start.

“The frustration is that we’re not able to catch that momentum that we had, to sustain the start that we had,” Curry said. “I know we can get it back, it’s a long way … Everyone’s been talking about how tough the schedule is and all this and that. But these are two games that we really should have (won) and wanted to show to begin with. But hopefully it will spark a fire under all of us to get back on the horse and figure out how we can win in a very tough stretch.”