THE PALACE OF AUBURN HILLS, AUBURN HILLS, MI — The Golden State Warriors (37-3) were at The Palace of Auburn Hills to face the Detroit Pistons (21-18).
The Warriors were without James Michael McAdoo (toe). The Pistons were without Jodie Meeks (foot).
1st Quarter – Curry Cooking
The Warriors got off to a rough 4-for-12 start including two early turnovers by Stephen Curry, while the PIstons, led by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Andre Drummond, and Reggie Jackson, shot 61%.
One key play that changed the momentum was Klay Thompson’s bad pass that led to a Caldwell-Pope run-out dunk, which was further exacerbated for the Warriors with a one-handed alley-oop “Lob City” type dunk by Andre Drummond, delivered by Jackson.
After a timeout by Warriors interim head coach Luke Walton, Golden State climbed back as Curry made a three-pointer pull-up from the edge of the center court logo…
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…then added a tough layup inside drawing contact and finishing with a high-arcing rainbow floater.
But with 6:06 to go, Marcus Morris capped the strong Detroit start with a pull-up jumper as the Pistons led 18-8.
After the timeout, in response to an Ersan Ilyasova triple, Steph added another high-arcing floater, then got a trailing three to drop as Caldwell-Pope fell asleep for an instant.
Festus Ezeli came in for Andrew Bogut, who had made some inside tip-ins on offense and disruptions on defense, and quickly got a jump hook and a tip-in putback. Caldwell-Pope fanagled a runner, but Curry answered with an immediate three in transition, running pick-and-roll with Green.
Draymond Green, who got this nice ovation before the game…
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…then lobbed an alley-oop to Ezeli and the Warriors had come back to within 27-26, Pistons, with 1:13 to go.
Green took a charge on Drummond, his second personal foul of the game, then Curry used a righty back-flip pass to hit Green for a three at the top, and with two more free throws on a drive by Steph drawing the foul on Aron Baynes, the Warriors eventually took a 30-27 lead into the second quarter.
2nd Quarter – Bench Unit Drops The Ball, KCP Adds To The Hurt
The bench unit of Shaun Livingston, Leandro Barbosa, Andre Iguodala, Barnes, and Ezeli came out flat to start the second quarter.
They combined to go just 1-for-11 in the first five minutes, with a Livingston “and-one” being the only bucket made. Meanwhile, Baynes hit five shots down low against Ezeli and Anthony Tolliver added three free throws after a shooting foul beyond the arc by Livingston.
That led to a Detroit 42-33 lead with 7:11 remaining and Walton called timeout and re-inserted his starters.
But once again, Caldwell-Pope and, first, Morris, kept Golden State at bay. Caldwell-Pope got a couple of pull-jumpers to drop over Curry, tallying 7-for-10 from the field at that point. With 2:19 to play, the Pistons took a 55-45 lead as Walton called another timeout.
The Warriors didn’t show signs of life until Curry lost the ball on a drive then shot a layup as he caught it, in the midst of a lot of body contact, but Steph got called for a technical after arguing for a whistle:
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Later, Green was called for a touch foul on a fade. Draymond stared down referee Brian Forte and also got whistled for a tech, although Jackson missed the free throw.
Curry then lost the ball on a drive on the right side, which ended with a Morris uncontested run-out dunk.
Thompson got a dribble-and-pop to fall with 8.2 seconds left, but Jackson answered with a pick-and-roll pull-up three against Klay and the Pistons took a commanding 64-59 lead into halftime.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @therealghostrobo)
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