Golden State Warriors' Steve Kerr takes blame for loss to ailing Indiana Pacers

SAN FRANCISCO — The Golden State Warriors felt good heading into their Thursday night matchup against the Indiana Pacers. They held a home run derby at Chase Center the day before to boost morale after a tough road trip and were ready to build momentum on their dominant win over the Detroit Pistons from two days earlier.

But as soon as they stepped on the court against Indiana's depleted roster, all of the positive energy they had evaporated, leading them to a 121-117 loss in overtime.

The game — in which they entered as 16.5-point favorites — marked the third-largest upset in the Steve Kerr era. And Kerr took all the responsibility.

«I blame myself, number one,» Kerr said. «I don't think I did a good job of preparing the team to be ready to play.»

The Pacers were without four of their top scorers — including forward Domantas Sabonis and starting guards Malcolm Brogdon and Caris LeVert — making them easier to look over. But they shot 41.9 percent from 3-point range.

In addition to the team's overall preparation, Kerr blamed himself for Golden State's final defensive possession of regulation: Justin Holiday escaped Stephen Curry's defense with just enough time to catch the ball at the right elbow of the 3-point line and knocked down the shot to tie the score and force overtime.

«I'm normally a fouler, and I take the hit on that one, too,» Kerr said of not telling his players to foul Holiday or Isaiah Jackson, who assisted Holiday on the shot. «So this was my night to stink it up.»

But Curry didn't place all of the onus on his coach, particularly on the play in which he was the primary defender on Holiday.

«I looked at the ball for like two seconds,» Curry said. «Holiday made a good cut and made a shot. I know there's that