Warriors at Pistons
The Golden State Warriors are well aware of the matchup that looms on Christmas Day but first they have Friday's road game against the Detroit Pistons, who have lost four consecutive games. The Warriors, who have won six straight games, will try not to look past the Pistons with the highly anticipated NBA Finals rematch against the Cleveland Cavaliers slated for Sunday.
Golden State owns a league-best 26-4 record but had to overcome a woeful first half before defeating the woeful Brooklyn Nets 117-101 on Thursday. The Warriors trailed by 16 points at halftime but were able to reverse course and outscored the Nets 68-36 in the second half. Detroit is mired in a dismal stretch and the first three defeats were so bad that Wednesday's 98-86 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies was viewed as a sign of progress. "This was definitely a step in the right direction," Pistons point guard Reggie Jackson told reporters. "We need to get better, but we battled. The effort was better than it has been. We just made too many mistakes."
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, CSN Bay Area (Golden State), FSN Detroit
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (26-4): Power forward Draymond Green is back with the team after he missed Thursday's game against the Nets due to the birth of his son, Draymond Jamal Green Jr. Green's status was originally announced as questionable for Friday but coach Steve Kerr felt it was highly probable Green would decide to travel since games in Detroit are viewed as home games by the Michigan native. Everybody expected the highly competitive Green to be back with the team in time for the Christmas Day showdown with the Cavaliers.
ABOUT THE PISTONS (14-17): Jackson briefly departed the game against Memphis when his left knee developed soreness and that raised concerns for everyone as that same knee caused Jackson to miss the season's first 21 games. "I thought I felt something in there, so I wanted to make sure everything was good, then I got back out there," Jackson told reporters. Detroit forward Jon Leuer scored 18 points against Memphis after being involved in a car accident earlier in the day and he will likely replace either Marcus Morris (8-of-35 shooting over the past four games) or Tobias Harris (17-of-46 during the same span) in the starting lineup.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Pistons rolled to a 113-95 victory over the Warriors last Jan. 16. to end a nine-game losing streak in the series.
2. Golden State SF Kevin Durant scored 26 points against Brooklyn and has scored 20 or more in 14 of the past 16 games.
3. Leuer is averaging 17.5 points on 29-of-43 shooting over his past four games.