NBA: Despite Curry-Comeback: Warriors patzen also in Detroit!

The Golden State Warriors are finally in the most difficult phase for several years! Against Detroit, the return of Stephen Curry did not help to prevent the ninth defeat of the season. The Big Men were particularly convincing in the case of the pistons.

Stephen Curry was back in the Warriors’ Starting Five for the first time since November 8th, so Quin Cook had to make do with a seat on the bench. Andre Iguodala, in contrast to the overtime thriller in Toronto, also came from the bank – Steve Kerr had Jonas Jerebko start together with Damian Jones in order to have an answer to the Griffin/Drummond duo. The Pistons, for their part, had a series of five consecutive home games to defend.

Both teams struggled in the offensive at the beginning and hit only one of their first five throws. When the pistons took the lead 6-5 through a Drummond putback, five minutes had already been played. Drummond grabbed nine rebounds in the first quarter alone, five of them on the offensive. With two fast three of Stanley Johnson and Reggie Bullock Detroit even increased the lead to six points (18:12). However, Klay Thompson’s six-point draw meant they went into the second quarter with a 24-24 draw.

There the picture from the first section continued. Detroit dominated the Warriors on the offensive board (7:2 in half-time one) and forced Steve Kerr to a quick time-out (32:27). Especially the Second Unit of the Pistons gave the reigning champion all hands full to do. In the first half, the Pistons bench, led by Stanley Johnson (13 points), outscorted the Warriors bench by 20 points and provided a two-digit lead (45:35). Golden State, on the other hand, did not want the throw to fall – only one of the ten attempts from Downtown found the goal. Only Kevin Durant (13) was responsible for the fact that the deficit remained in the single digits at half time (54:46).

However, those who expected a performance explosion of the Warriors were mistaken. With another Bullock-three and a Jackson-And-One the Pistons could even extend their lead (69:55). Apparently a signal to Stephen Curry to now take the game into his own hands. After the first half of his comeback was still slow, he shortened the lead with two threes, a layup and an assistant for Durant to 76:71. However, Stanley Johnson brought the momentum back to the side of the pistons (85:78) by Buzzer-Beater from the corner.

Ish Smith opened the last 12 minutes of the game with seven points for Motor City, with Curry finding the answer on the other side and hitting his third throw from beyond the perimeter. Still, the dubs didn’t really find their way into their system and ran almost exclusively iso-plays over Durant, which weren’t necessarily crowned with success. Three and a half minutes before the end, Stanley Johnson scored another triumph and increased the Pistons lead to 14 points (101:87). The Warriors did not recover from this gap, and the ninth defeat of the reigning champions was decided.

Best thrower of the game was Kevin Durant (28 points, 9/19 FG), followed by Stephen Curry (27, 10/21 FG). Among the pistons, besides Blake Griffin (26, 9/22 FG), Stanley Johnson von der Bank (19, 8/16 FG) scored the most. A total of six players came in Double Figures at Motor City, only Klay Thompson (21) did it at the Warriors besides Durant and Curry.

Detroit Pistons (13-7) vs. Golden State Warriors (15-9) 111:102 (BOXSCORE)

The fact that the Detroit Pistons are one of the best rebounding teams in the league is no longer a novelty. Nevertheless, the dominance was especially impressive on the offensive board. A total of 14 offensive rebounds were fished by Motor City, with Andre Drummond alone taking eight.

Maybe it was insider tips from Zaza Pachulia or simply the excellent attitude of Dwayne Caseys. The Secound Unit of the Pistons made an excellent figure over the entire playing time and provided a lot of relief. The game ended with 42 bench points on the statsheet and only 13 against the Warriors.

Even though things at Golden State aren’t as easy and relaxed as they used to be in the past, such a bad threesome ratio you rarely see from the dubs. Only 6 of the 26 attempts of Downtown found their target – that is 23 percent!

Andre Drummond. Even though Griffin, Bullock and Johnson scored more points than the Big Man (15) – the dominance of Drummond under the basket was the decisive factor of the game. 19 rebounds, 8 of them (!!) offensive speak a clear language. In addition, he didn’t even play in the well-known Hack-A-Drummond tactic and hit a free-throw at exactly the right moment before saying goodbye to the bench with a big grin.

Kevon Looney. Came early in the game for Damian Jones, as he had grown from the physical skills most likely for the mammoth task of Drummond Drummond. But instead of helping, he made some mistakes while boxing out and collected unnecessary fouls quickly. His plus/minus rating of -12 was only undercut by Jordan Bell and Shaun Livingston.

Hardly any other team has shaped the Small Ball as much as the Warriors in recent years – but today the world looked quite different. Drummond, Griffin and Co. showed the reigning champion that a game can also be decided with Hustle Plays under the basket. Dwayne Casey often let his two Bigs play together, which is why Steve Kerr was forced to play unusually large lineups early on in the match, which in turn inhibited his own flow of play in the offensive.