ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — The Detroit Pistons, along with assistant coach and former Warrior great Tim Hardaway were in town on the second night of a back-to-back, to face the Golden State Warriors. Everyone was available for the Warriors. Brandon Jennings (torn Achilles) and Joel Anthony (sore right groin) were out injured for the Pistons.
Caron Butler got the start over Tayshaun Prince for Detroit.
1ST QUARTER: Trading Buckets
The Warriors weren’t exactly clicking out of the gate, as Harrison Barnes lost the ball twice for two early turnovers and Klay Thompson added his own, a traveling call while trying to initiate a drive.
But Andrew Bogut buoyed Golden State, with a sweeping lefty baby hook and a putback of a missed attack of the rim by Draymond Green, who did well to blow by Greg Monroe, but still got caught from behind, swatted by the lengthy Pistons power forward.
Monroe had three quick buckets on nice moves to the hole, with a spin to create some space in the paint, a nice scoop finish, and a driving layup with his strong left hand after picking up a dropped dribble by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, a near-waltz to the hoop right by Bogut with outstretched arms, that seemed oddly easy against one of the vaunted defenses in the NBA.
But after dueling point guards Stephen Curry and Reggie Jackson both missed, Harrison Barnes drilled a trey from the right corner on a Curry push of the early offense and the Warriors were down 8-7 with 9:11 to go in the first frame.
After Green drilled a catch-and-shoot on a swing pass from Klay Thompson, Curry dribbled on the perimeter, scanning the offense and, as he dribbled towards a Bogut pick and realized that Andre Drummond wasn’t intent on getting around Bogut to close out on Steph, calmly pulled up from beyond the arc for the trey splash.
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Green then rebounded a Drummond miss and took the ball coast-to-coast, weaving by Monroe to score a lefty layup. Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy stopped the bleeding with a timeout and the Warriors up, 14-8, with 6:39 left.
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The teams would trade baskets, with Curry crossing and pulling on Tayshaun Prince…
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…Thompson scoring in the paint on a cut from the right elbow, assisted by Curry, Bogut leaving a patented backwards between-the-legs pass for Thompson that turned into a layup…
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…and Klay nearly falling down on a nice spin that ended up with a pass to Bogut, returning the favor, for two underneath the rim.
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On defense, Curry added a charge as Reggie Jackson attempted a behind-the-back, left-to-right crossover on Steph, but wound up just ramming into him straight on.
At the 3:39 mark, Marreese Speights and Andre Iguodala were the first subs in, but Golden State head coach Steve Kerr called timeout after Prince got an easy tip-in of a Monroe miss over Speights. The Warriors held the lead, 22-16, with 2:40 to go.
Out of the timeout, Leandro Barbosa was the first guard off the bench, not Shaun Livingston. Speights got two jumpers both assisted by Curry, but the Pistons kept things close as Jodie Meeks converted a catch-and-shoot, Drummond got a putback as Speights tried unsuccessfully to flop a charge under the hoop, and Spencer Dinwiddie got lucky with a pull-up banker from beyond the arc on Curry, to which he gave a Michael Jordan-like shrug.
However, the Warriors ended the quarter on a high note as Barnes lofted a three-pointer from the left corner under duress that hit the iron too hard. Iguodala gathered the offensive rebound from the opposite baseline and, with time winding down, took one dribble past his defender, pulled up, and his jumper trickled in off board and iron in at the buzzer.
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The Warriors took a 30-25 lead into the second frame.
2ND QUARTER: Late Turnovers Again
The Warriors started the second period with Livingston, Barbosa, Iguodala, Barnes and Speights. Speights and Drummond went at it, with Mo surrendering another putback, but getting a jumper to fall, then blocking an attack by Drummond.
Barbosa drove hard, as we’ve come to expect, and an and-one against Drummond, with Livingston assisting, pushed the Warriors lead to 38-29 with 9:59 remaining in the half. Barbosa would add a charge by Dinwiddie and another layup.
The bench unit left the game in good hands for the starters, but Speights was winded as he got called for a bad screen. Bogut came back in for him with 6:32 to play, up 44-33. Curry would later check in at the 5:15 mark.
Thompson had a nice stretch of play as he showed off a nice finger roll after driving left-handed by Pope, then blocked Anthony Tolliver‘s corner three attempt.
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Klay followed that up with a double-clutch re-cock of a floater in the paint, which gave Golden State a 48-37 lead with 3:47 left.
The Warriors added a slam dunk by Bogut as Curry spun around his defender and left a drop pass bouncer for the cutting big, but the Pistons countered as Thompson committed another lost-ball turnover.
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The ensuing scrum resulted in Green picking up his second personal, trying unsuccessfully to cause a jumpball. Monroe added a post up move past Bogut on a nice entry pass by Jackson, plus a Tolliver reverse layup on Bogut kept the Dubs from breaking free. It was 50-43 with 2:23 remaining.
Even though Bogut got another slam, this time a putback as Thompson mishandled the rock again, forcing him to scramble and pass to Livingston as the shotclock wound down. Livingston missed twice, but Bogut cleaned up the garbage. Klay got a nice block on the bigger Monroe, but Green was called for his third personal while defending Monroe. Barnes finished out the half for Green.
Once again, the Warriors finished up a half by turning the ball over, as Bogut’s pass was a “zig” to Thompson’s “zag”, harmlessly bouncing into the baseline seats. Livingston made a bad pass to Klay and Caldwell-Pope got the run-out layup assisted by Butler.
A Dinwiddie pull up with 3.1 seconds left, followed by Livingston taking too long to find Barnes before the buzzer, left Golden State with a slim 56-51 lead heading into halftime.
Monroe and Drummond both had 10 points, while Drummond added 11 boards. Bogut and Thompson both had 12 points and the Warriors shot better than 50%, but committed 10 turnovers. The Dubs were just 3-for-11 combined from beyond the arc and Curry scored just 5 points on 2-for-7 floor and 1-for-5 downtown, to go along with 5 assists.
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