Pistons Get Spanked By Warriors
Detroit is embarking on a four-game west coast swing and it got off to a rough start against the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night. The Pistons got down early and never really challenged the Warriors even with Steph Curry spending the fourth quarter on the bench after having a pretty modest night. The Warriors ended up winning the game 102-86 and led by 34 at one point.
Not many people expected Detroit to win on the road against Golden State, but Pistons fans should be concerned with how it all looked on the court. The Pistons were sloppy on offense, often trying to run sets with horrible spacing, careless with the ball as evidenced by their 16 turnovers and not very locked in on defense as the Warriors shot 41% from the floor. Golden State scored easily around the rim way too often.
Curry dinged up his non-shooting hand in the third quarter so he barely played in the second half. He finished with 18 points and the Warriors still cruised to a 16-point win that wasn't nearly that close. Klay Thompson continues to come along as he returns from his two, year-long injuries and he was big for Golden State tonight. Thompson poured in 21 points in just 22 minutes of action.
There's not much to take away from this game. Golden State is one of the best teams in the league, while Detroit is bringing up the rear. The Pistons are still battling through some key injuries, most notably to Jerami Grant, while the Warriors are getting back to full strength with the Splash Brothers returning to form. Draymond Green was out for the Warriors tonight but the key scorers were ready to roll for Golden State and Andrew Wiggins got off to a hot start, which allowed the Warriors to get up big early.
The Pistons have a long way to go. I'm not sure if Dwane Casey will be a part of that trip or not, but there were a lot of errors out on the court tonight that could be blamed on coaching and preparation. Missing shots, turning the ball over and playing poor defense is on the players, but spacing, game flow and overall organization is on the coaches in a big way.
