By: Ben Leonard
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The Splash Brothers, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, have led the Warriors in their ascent from mediocrity to NBA supremacy. However, without Curry, who missed his first game of the season Sunday with right ankle soreness, this sense of brotherhood fell apart, as the Warriors fell 104-98 to the Indiana Pacers in Indianapolis.

Rodney Stuckey came off of the bench to pace his team with 30 points in just 28 minutes of action, showing no signs of weakness after suffering an ankle spain on Friday. His layup gave the Pacers a 91-90 lead with just under four minutes left to play, and his team never looked back.

Stuckey was not alone in his success off the bench, as the reserves scored a combined 61 points in the contest. The Warriors, known as a very deep team, simply could not overcome this surge with Curry out, scoring only 35 off the bench as a team. Only two players were in double figures for Golden State, Thompson and Andre Iguodala, who added 14.

The Pacers did not start out well, falling behind 38-26 at the end of the first quarter. Thompson led the early charge for Golden State, scoring 15 of his 39 points in the game in the first. His performance marked the seventh time that he scored at least 30 points in the 2014-15 season. However, without a second scorer in Curry, the Warriors’ efforts proved to be futile in the end. The Warriors did not have quite the same spice from the field, making just 38.2% of their attempts from the field.

Even though Thompson may have won the Three-Point Competition, Sunday’s poor showing underscored Curry’s value to the team in a difficult way. The Warriors failed to maintain a steady lead against a far-less talented Indiana team. To be fair, the game was still up for grabs until C.J. Miles’ trey gave the Pacers a 101-97 lead with 26.5 seconds left. Regardless, the Warriors will need Curry back if they want to avoid another early exit from the playoffs.

Stats and info courtesy of ESPN