INDIANAPOLIS — Maybe if Klay Thompson were on the bench Steph Curry would have approached the game a little differently.
Thompson would have been the one in Curry’s ear after he hit all six of his first six 3-point attempts in the first quarter, reminding him that his own NBA single-game 3-point record of 14 made was within reach.
But Thompson was out of pocket, away from the bench and out of the game dealing with an illness and Curry’s mind was fixated on the game plan, not on himself.
“It wasn’t until the third quarter that I realized I was making some adjustments to slow the pace down a little bit,” Curry said. “Klay wasn’t around so I didn’t think about it much at all, which was weird.”
Curry’s game plan at tip was to out-pace a Pacers squad that ranks second in the league in pace (102.69); they run and gun the second-best-rated offense in the league behind newly-minted All-Star Tyrese Haliburton. Curry countered with 18 points in eight minutes to lead the team’s season-high 45-point first quarter, outscoring Indiana by 11.
In the record books, it matters that Curry finished with a season-high 11 3-pointers, three shy of the record, for his 25th career game with at least 10 3s made. It matters more that Curry only needed to play 30 minutes to score 42 points on the tail of a back-to-back en route to the Warriors’ second-straight win by at least 20 points.
In a season mired by lows, it matters that Curry’s individual high plays a second fiddle to the team’s collective growth on this five-game trip.
The Warriors looked to have formed an identity after a 4-1 road trip, beating the Memphis Grizzlies comfortably, losing to the Atlanta Hawks in overtime, taking care of the Brooklyn Nets and beating down the Philadelphia 76ers and Indiana on a back-to-back when, logically, exhaustion would have caught up after a week on the road.
Containing Indiana’s offense didn’t need Curry to chase records, it required him to flex his explosiveness; he’s the pioneer of this modern, fast-paced, shot-happy offense Indiana uses and, at age 35, can still beat up on the next generation following his path.
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Curry let up because he trusted this new-look defense to take the win home. Wiggins and the defense held Haliburton to just seven shots and two makes, Myles Turner and Pascal Siakam couldn’t close the gap.
“They average 124 a game and, I think, the No. 1 scoring team in the league so to hold them to 109, it’s pretty impressive,” coach Steve Kerr said. “But Steph was scalding hot that first quarter. So for us to score 45 and go into the second quarter with a lead because of his resilience, we were able to get our defense settled.”
The visual still isn’t pretty. They’re 24-25 and only moved up one spot, from 12th to 11th, in the Western Conference standings. They survived the trade deadline nearly unscathed, Cory Joseph as the only player lost and believe this same roster that’s looked hapless, discombobulated and unprepared for postseason pressures can start to take real strides toward the playoffs.
With Draymond Green back in the fold, a reliable lineup with Curry, Thompson, Andrew Wiggins and Jonathan Kuminga has emerged with a tangible defensive identity starting to show. That lineup has a 16.5 net rating with a 94.4 defensive rating. Since Green’s return on Jan. 15, the Warriors’ 112.2 defensive rating is the fifth best behind defensive powerhouses Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Knicks, Minnesota Timberwolves and Boston Celtics over that span.
Is an identity forming? Not so fast.
“The challenge is to not get too ahead of yourself thinking you can just show up and win games,” Curry said. “That can never be the mentality. I’ve been saying it forever, you have to think, how do we win this particular game?…We have a long way to go to get some security.”
