THE PALACE OF AUBURN HILLS, AUBURN HILLS, MI — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Golden State Warriors at the Detroit Pistons.
The Pistons took a 65-49 lead into halftime.
3rd Quarter – Can’t Get Any Calls
The Warriors tried to set a spark in the third quarter, but just couldn’t get it going as, despite the Pistons not shooting well either, Stephen Curry couldn’t find a groove, although Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was finally called for two off-ball holding fouls on Curry.
Generally speaking, calls weren’t going the Warriors way, either, as Andrew Bogut picked up his fourth personal foul early on and interim head coach Luke Walton went with Festus Ezeli.
Detroit head coach Stan Van Gundy did well to stop any signs of momentum swinging Golden State’s way. Klay Thompson got fouled on a shot beyond the arc, Van Gundy called timeout, and Thompson missed one of the three ensuing throws.
Draymond Green posted up Caldwell-Pope in the post, fed a (rarely) wide-open Curry for a splash, and Van Gundy quickly quelled that as Marcus Morris looked at Reggie Jackson and pointed to his own head, telling Jackson he had messed up on the rotation.
Curry couldn’t take advantage of a Caldwell-Pope turnover to a Green/Ezeli double-team, missing a three, and Andre Drummond shotput a runner in, but Thompson came back with a drive and an upfake layup in traffic.
Green drove into the lane and couldn’t get an obvious goaltending call, Leandro Barbosa got whistled for an offensive foul as Steph drained a triple from the top (disallowed), and Ezeli made a bad screen that freed up Curry for another disallowed three.
The only spark seemed to happen when the Pistons scored, as backup point guard Steve Blake launched a contested triple in the right corner over Steph, and Curry came back immediately to answer with a trey from the top over Ersan Ilyasova.
It wasn’t enough, and the Pistons held an 85-74 lead heading into the final frame.
4th Quarter – Tolliver Finally Delivers The Dagger
Things went downhill at the start of the fourth, except for this bucket by Curry…
.@Money23Green finding the cutter on CSNBA. #NBAVote pic.twitter.com/6tkMS069T5
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) January 17, 2016
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…as the refs completely swallowed their whistles. Harrison Barnes got nailed twice (body then wrist) on a fastbreak layup with no call, Drummond got a dunk the other ay, and Walton blew his top at the ref and picked up a technical.
With 9:59 remaining, the Warriors found themselves down, 93-74.
Walton took Barnes out and put in Livingston, going “small ball” with Curry, Thompson, Livingston, Andre Iguodala and Green, but Draymond got called for an offensive goaltending on a tip-in attempt of his own miss, and Blake once again drilled a contested three over Curry.
That put the Pistons up, 99-76.
After that, Green missed another driving layup, disrupted by Drummond…
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…Anthony Tolliver missed a fadeaway dagger three attempt from the left corner, but on the ensuing break, Iguodala threw up a reverse layup that airballed over the backboard:
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A Green block of Drummond got the two talking again, but no whistle either way, and Jackson got an alley oop layup over Curry on the baseline out of bounds. Livingston answered with a tip-in of his own miss, then Curry pulled from straightaway for a triple swish, Drummond hit a jump hook, and Steph hit another jumper, giving him 36 points, pulling up from the free throw line extended.
Van Gundy sensed trouble and called timeout even with the Pistons still up by 20, 103-83, with 6:01 to go.
Klay Thompson popped out for a three, but missed his next pull-up triple attempt and Curry missed a step-back trey attempt. The Warriors couldn’t get anything going offensively again.
With Brandon Rush in for Livingston in the small ball lineup, Tolliver, who had previously missed another dagger fallaway three from the right corner, up-faked Rush, Ezeli was way late on the help, and Tolliver got an emphatic slam to deflate the Warriors.
Walton called timeout, inserted the mop up crew of Ian Clark, Barbosa, Rush, Barnes, and Ezeli, and the PIstons went on to defeat the Warriors (37-4), 113-95.
Thompson scored 24, meaning the #SplashBrothers combined for 62 of the 95 points.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @the__currys30)
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