By Gabe Schapiro

The Golden State Warriors (26-17) couldn’t overcome a big early deficit, losing to the Indiana Pacers (33-7), 102-94, Monday night, at Oracle Arena. Falling behind quickly against the league’s best team is rarely going to be a recipe for success. The Warriors have made a habit out of big comebacks at home, but there would be no thrilling storybook ending on this night.

Both squads came out of the gates on fire, combining to make the games first nine shots. From there, however, the Pacers started to pull away. Golden State trailed by 14 after the first quarter, and would eventually trail by as many as 20. Indiana holds the league best record, and at times it certainly looked like the Warriors were overwhelmed going up against it.

In the second half, it initially looked like more of the same. The Pacers opened up the third with a 7-0 run. As we’ve seen them do countless times this season, Golden State refused to go down quietly. They finally appeared to wake up, and mounted a run of their own. They kept on slowly chipping away at the lead. Flash-forward to two minutes into the fourth quarter, and a Harrison Barnes three-pointer brought the dubs to within two. However, that would be as close as they would get to a lead.

The Warriors kept themselves within striking distance until the final seconds, but the mountain proved to be too high to climb. They misfired on a couple of key possessions, and Indiana put the game away with some late free throws.

Stephen Curry wasn’t at his best, but still scored a game-high 24 points. He finished one assist shy of completing the double-double. He was nine-of-20 from the field, and just three-of-11 from beyond the arc.

Mr.double-double himself, David Lee, notched another one. He finished with 20 points and 12 boards.

Andrew Bogut missed a couple of crucial minutes late in the game after he appeared to tweak something, but was re-inserted into the game. He contributed 10 points, 13 rebounds, and two blocks.

For the Pacers, Paul George led the way with 23 points. Roy Hibbert was his usual force in the paint, adding 14 points, 14 boards, and two blocked shots. All five Indiana starters finished in double figures, the first time an opponent has accomplished that feat against Golden State this season.