SAN FRANCISCO – You know the old saying: Out of the frying pan, into the unfathomable depths of a molten inferno.
The Pistons don’t get long to revel in one of the most sensational comebacks in franchise history, turning an 18-point deficit at Portland into a 17-point victory with an astounding 41-7 run in the fourth quarter. Up next: the Golden State Warriors, who have been eviscerating all comers in sprinting to a 7-0 start of their NBA title defense. The average score of a Warriors game so far: Golden State 115.7, Helpless Saps 97.4.
It’s a 10:30 p.m. Eastern start, so if you’re a Pistons fan in Michigan or the Midwest, you might want to get a nap in and set your alarm for tipoff. There are 15 winning teams in the NBA right now and the Pistons and Warriors are the only two undefeated against the 14 others.
Pistons guards Reggie Jackson and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope outscored the NBA’s highest-scoring backcourt in the 120-103 win at Portland, combining for 56 points to 44 for Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, almost six points under their average. Their reward? A matchup tonight with Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. Curry is playing at a higher level than a year ago, when he won MVP, averaging 33.9 points and shooting 48 percent from the 3-point line.
“Hopefully, we can take this into tomorrow night,” Jackson said after tying Will Bynum’s franchise record for points in a quarter, scoring 26 in the fourth. “We’ve got a tough opponent in Golden State. We’re going to enjoy this on the plane, but as soon as we get off, we’ve got to forget about it and get prepared. I think we’re too young and dumb to know better.”
Jackson’s 26-point quarter was actually squeezed into just 9:15 when he took over for Steve Blake with the Pistons having cut their deficit to nine. He actually missed his first shot, then made 10 straight – two of them 3-pointers – and also was 4 of 4 at the foul line. All of his 26 points came in the final 8:01.
Jackson scored on four straight possessions to move the Pistons from two points down to six points up, all four baskets coming in the paint on high pick-and-roll plays with Andre Drummond – sensational himself with 29 points and 27 rebounds. Drummond’s growing post arsenal is making teams hesitant to give him scoring chances as Jackson’s roll man, giving Jackson the room to score one on one off of those screens.
“I was known for my first couple of years as a lob threat, so now guys are kind of watching the scouting report and trying to figure out ways to stop the pick and rolls between Reggie and me,” Drummond said. “It’s starting to open him up a lot more.”
For a little perspective on the nights Drummond and Jackson put together, there’s this: Drummond’s three 20-20 games among the first six of the season put him in the company of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain. And this: Jackson’s 26-point fourth quarter has been topped in the last 15 years by only Kobe Bryant’s 28 in 2005-06 and Dirk Nowitzki’s 29 in 2009-10.
Blake has been around the NBA 13 years and was a teammate of Bryant’s with the Lakers, but he hasn’t seen many nights like that.
“Most of us on the bench were just like the fans,” he said. “We were just getting excited seeing them play like that and dominate. We know they can do that, so we expect to see that again.”
To inflict the first loss on Golden State’s season, they might need that time to be tonight.