The Warriors earned their second road victory in as many nights after defeating the Pistons 119-113 on Friday. Kevin Durant was terrific, scoring a game-high 32 points to go along with eight rebounds and three assists. Stephen Curry added 25 points and eight assists, while Draymond Green returned from a one-game absence to collect his 10th double-double of the season with 10 rebounds and 12 assists. With the win, Golden State improves their record to 27-4.
GAME LEADERS
In a game that featured a Warriors’ season-high 18 lead changes, Golden State survived an uneven performance and turned it on when they had to to come away with the victory. One day after falling behind by 16 going into halftime against the Nets, the Dubs had far more early success on Friday in Detroit, but their carelessness with the ball nearly cost them in the long run. Golden State committed 22 turnovers, the second-most they’ve committed in a game this season, and was outscored by the Pistons by 14 in points off turnovers.
Klay Thompson opened the scoring with a three-pointer 45 seconds into the contest, and would add another at the 10:03 mark of the first quarter to stake the Warriors to an early 8-4 lead. Kevin Durant would follow Thompson’s lead, converting his first three-pointer of the night on the Warriors’ next offensive possession to build their advantage to seven points, their largest lead of the entire first half. That trey got Durant rolling, and he’d go into halftime leading all scorers with 16 points. Thompson, however, would go cold soon after and struggle to score for the remainder of the night, but would be heard from again in the crucial final minutes.
After holding a slight 33-32 lead at the end of the first frame, Golden State went into the half trailing 59-57.
JaVale McGee has likely been the most pleasant surprise of the season thus far for the Warriors, and he’d continue his strong play of late with a superb stretch in the third quarter. Detroit opened the second half on a 4-0 burst to take their largest lead of the entire game at 63-57 with 10:08 remaining in the third frame, but Golden State kept the Pistons from gaining any further separation, and came back to hold a 74-72 lead when McGee entered the game at the 5:35 mark. 15 seconds later, McGee would be fouled and make both of the resulting free throws, igniting a stretch in which he’d score nine points in a span of 2:06. All three of McGee’s field goals in that surge came by way of alley-oops, and he finished off the sequence with an impressive block of Reggie Jackson’s five-foot jumper attempt, after which Stephen Curry drained a three-pointer to give the Dubs their largest lead of the entire game at 86-78. Detroit would trim three points off that deficit through the remainder of the quarter, as the Warriors took an 88-84 lead into the fourth and final frame.
The Pistons would begin the fourth quarter on an 11-2 run, taking a 95-90 lead on Tobias Harris’ dunk with 9:23 remaining, but an immediate 6-0 Golden State burst in response capped by consecutive Durant jumpers put the Dubs back in the lead. Stanley Johnson would split free throws soon after to tie the game, and it would remain a single-score contest up until the final minute. Draymond Green hadn’t converted a field goal all game long until his dunk off an out-of-bounds play put the Warriors in front 112-110 with 1:31 left to play, after which Thompson left his final marks on the eventual victory.
He’d steal the ball from Stanley Johnson on Detroit’s ensuing possession, and drain a 17-footer on the trip back down the court to put Golden State up 114-110 with 53 seconds remaining. Then, after Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had answered back with a jumper, Curry found Thompson on the wing on the following possession, who promptly converted his first three-pointer since the first two minutes of the game to put the Warriors up five with 22 seconds left. That would prove to be the clinching basket, as Curry’s two free throws with two seconds left put the finishing touches on the 119-113 victory.
With the win, Golden State improves to 27-4 on the season and has now won 14-straight regular season games against the Eastern Conference, tied for the second-longest interconference road win streak in NBA history. The Warriors will attempt to push that streak one game further when they close out their current three-game road trip on Christmas Day against the Cleveland Cavaliers.