INDIANAPOLIS — Stephen Curry started cooking in the first quarter and never really stopped, and the Pacers fell 131-109 to the Golden State Warriors at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Thursday night.

The Pacers fell to 29-24. The Warriors improved to 24-25.

Here are four observations.

Stephen Curry went nuclear in the first half, scores 42 points

As is always the case when Golden State comes to town, the lower bowl at Gainbridge Fieldhouse was packed for warm-ups to watch Stephen Curry shoot. There were plenty of fans wearing No. 30 Warriors jerseys and other Curry-related gear.

Those fans got everything they came to see from the NBA's all-time leading 3-point shooter and then some. He hit his first 3-pointer 45 seconds into the game and didn't miss one until the second quarter. He drilled all six he took in an 18-point first quarter then knocked in a seventh before he finally missed an off-balance heat check in the second quarter. He helped the Warriors post 45 points in the first quarter on 17 of 23 shooting including 8 of 12 from 3-point range, which translated to a gaudy 1.65 points per possession.

"Steph was scalding hot that first quarter," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "For us to score 45 and go into the second quarter with a lead because of his brilliance, we were able to get our defense settled.

After Curry's first miss in the second quarter he hit a mid-range jumper off a scrambled possession, another 3 and then a driving circus layup at the end of the half to go into the break with 29 points on 10 of 11 shooting, including 8 of 9 from 3-point range.

"Steph is Steph," Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton said. "... Steph is gonna do what Steph does. That's a given."

Curry cracked the 30-point mark early in the second half but the Warriors had a big enough lead that he didn't need to do much. He finished with 42 points on 15 of 22 shooting, including 11 of 16 from 3-point range. He added two assists.

Jalen Smith stars in first half, but leaves with back spasms

Backup center Jalen Smith was the Pacers' most productive player in the first half, but his nagging back problems acted up again and kept him out for the rest of the game.

Smith had an early check-in with starter Myles Turner picking up two fouls in the game's first 5 minutes. Smith made the most of the minutes, going 6 of 6 from the field, including 2 of 2 from 3-point range, scoring 14 points and also grabbing five rebounds in 13 minutes and 19 seconds. However, Smith had lower back spasms at halftime and Pacers PR posted on X (formerly Twitter) early in the second half that he would not return. Turner and Isaiah Jackson took the rest of the minutes. Smith ended up the only player on the team with a positive plus-minus at +3.

Tyrese Haliburton struggles, but so does everybody else

In his pre-game press conference Thursday, Warriors coach Steve Kerr compared Tyrese Haliburton to Curry.

Kerr coached Haliburton on Team USA in the FIBA World Cup this summer, and although their games aren't exactly the same, Kerr noted that Haliburton plays with the same joy and confidence that Curry does, believing he's going to make every shot and every play but making his team fun to play on.

But on Thursday, Haliburton, still making his way back from a hamstring strain and perhaps also dealing with the Thursday trade of his close friend Buddy Hield, couldn't match Curry. He didn't score in the first half, missing all three of his shots. He had a three-point play erased when it was reviewed and officials determined that he had kicked his leg out on Curry and Curry had not fouled him.

Haliburton finally hit a 3-pointer in the third quarter, but he finished with just five on 2 of 7 shooting, including 1 of 4 from 3-point range. He dished out 11 assists against three turnovers, but that wasn't nearly enough. He played 25 minutes and 49 seconds, over a four-game stretch from Jan. 30 through Feb. 4, but fewer than he did in a win over the Rockets on Tuesday.

"It was just a bad game top to bottom," Haliburton said. "Started with me. Started with our first group. Poor effort game, just poor performance overall."

Pacers coach Carlisle was disappointed with the entirety of the performance as well and didn't want to spend any time talking about Haliburton's issues. He saw bigger problems on both ends of the floor. The Pacers had some stretches of good defense but more of bad ones, allowing the Warriors to shoot 55.9% from the field and 17 of 32 from 3-point range, posting 1.24 points per possession. Curry was sensational but the Warriors also scored 64 points in the paint and won the rebounding battle 49-30.

"He was making shots but we got beat by their hard play and our lack of hard play," Carlisle said. "It was as simple as that. It was ugly. I think we lost every quarter. Very disappointing. Hard unselfish play is going to be the key to our team."

Carlisle said he was bothered by every aspect of the game.

"We got beat in every category you could get beat in," Carlisle said. "They got 17 more loose balls than we did."

Trayce Jackson-Davis gets minutes late, dunks

Former Center Grove High School star, 2019 Mr. Basketball and Indiana All-American Trayce Jackson-Davis has found it harder to get minutes since Draymond Green came back from suspension, but with the Warriors up 20 late, TJD in, and he threw down an alley-oop dunk right away.

He added two more points on free throws and two more on a putback on his own miss. He finished with six points on 2 of 3 shooting and grabbed two rebounds in 3:37.

Pacers box score vs. Warriors

GOLDEN STATE (131): Kuminga 9-16 0-0 18, Wiggins 5-10 0-0 11, Green 4-8 0-0 8, Curry 15-22 1-2 42, Podziemski 3-9 3-4 9, Jackson-Davis 2-3 2-2 6, Santos 5-8 1-2 13, Looney 1-1 0-0 2, Saric 4-6 1-1 11, Moody 2-3 0-0 5, Quinones 2-7 2-2 6, Robinson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 52-93 10-13 131.

INDIANA (109): Nesmith 4-7 4-6 13, Siakam 6-11 2-4 16, Turner 5-12 3-6 15, Haliburton 2-7 0-0 5, Nembhard 4-8 0-0 10, Jackson 1-2 2-2 4, Toppin 3-5 0-0 7, Smith 6-6 0-0 14, Mathurin 2-11 7-8 11, McConnell 3-7 0-0 6, Sheppard 3-5 1-1 8. Totals 39-81 19-27 109.

GSW 45 25 25 36 — 131

IND 34 24 18 33 — 109

3-Point Goals—Golden State 17-32 (Curry 11-16, Santos 2-2, Saric 2-3, Moody 1-1, Wiggins 1-3, Green 0-1, Podziemski 0-1, Kuminga 0-2, Quinones 0-3), Indiana 12-31 (Smith 2-2, Nembhard 2-4, Siakam 2-4, Turner 2-5, Nesmith 1-3, Sheppard 1-3, Toppin 1-3, Haliburton 1-4, Mathurin 0-3). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_Golden State 49 (Green, Santos 8), Indiana 30 (Siakam 8). Assists_Golden State 33 (Podziemski 7), Indiana 31 (Haliburton 11). Total Fouls_Golden State 22, Indiana 17. A_17,274 (20,000)

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pacers vs. Warriors: Stephen Curry scores 42 points to beat Pacers