Warriors at Pistons
The Golden State Warriors’ biggest challenge on Saturday might be fighting the urge to look ahead in the schedule to dates at Cleveland and Chicago early next week. Michigan native Draymond Green will try to keep his teammates’ focus on the present when the Warriors visit the Detroit Pistons on Saturday.
Golden State, which suffered its third loss of the season at Denver on Wednesday while Green sat out to rest, bounced back with a 116-98 home win over the Los Angeles Lakers and is about to enter one of the toughest stretches of the schedule. The Warriors will see East contenders in the Pistons, Cavaliers and Bulls on the three-game road trip before heading home to face Indiana, San Antonio and Dallas over the next six contests. Detroit just fell to a pair of West playoff contenders with a road loss at San Antonio before a last-second 103-101 setback at the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday. “They are all tough,” Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy told reporters. “Any loss is tough. I haven’t found one that isn’t tough.”
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, CSN Bay Area (Golden State), FSN Detroit
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (37-3): Green was back in the lineup on Thursday and contributed seven points, nine rebounds, five assists and three steals to the win, but it was Stephen Curry stealing the show. The reigning MVP buried eight 3-pointers and finished with 26 points – the lone two-point field goal coming on a rare transition dunk. “The (3-point) line was open,” Curry told reporters. “… I had a lot of opportunities, and obviously, if I get open looks, I’m going to take them.”
ABOUT THE PISTONS (21-18): Detroit held an eight-point lead midway through the fourth quarter and still led 101-96 after Stanley Johnson’s 3-pointer with 3:06 left but would not score again as Memphis rallied for the victory. Johnson was an obvious bright spot on an otherwise disappointing night for the Pistons while scoring 11 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter. The rookie from Arizona buried a season-high five 3-pointers in his highest scoring game since putting up 19 points in a win over Houston on Nov. 30.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Warriors F Harrison Barnes is averaging 11 points in seven games since returning from an ankle injury that cost him more than a month.
2. Detroit C Andre Drummond is 7-of-37 from the free-throw line in the last seven games.
3. Golden State has taken nine straight in the series, including a 109-95 home win on Nov. 9.