The Detroit Pistons stumbled out of the gate early on the first of their four-game West Coast road trip falling behind by as many as 34 in the first half and eventually falling to the Golden State Warriors 102-86.
Things were so easy for Golden State early that they started playing a little fast and casual, and that actually helped Detroit keep the deficit from ballooning past 40. But Golden State knew there was no real resistance coming from Detroit so why not have a little fun.
Observers could tell the Pistons didn’t have any fight in them within the opening minutes of the game. Detroit was leaving Steph freaking Curry wide open for 3s because of lackadaisical closeouts or simply losing him while he was flying up and down the court.
Curry scored 18 points in 29 minutes and added 9 assists. His fellow Splash Brother Klay Thompson led all scorers with 21 points while Andrew Wiggins added 19.
The Pistons were led by Isaiah Stewart with 14 points and seemingly the only player exerting any effort for Detroit in the first half. In the second half, it was quickly garbage time so the bench got plenty of run and Rodney McGruder fresh off of getting traded to Denver and then seeing that trade voided got 20 minutes of run and scored 19 points.
Stewart and McGruder combined for nearly half of Detroit’s made field goals in the game. Outside of those two, the Pistons shot a woeful 24% from the floor. The Pistons as a team shot 27% from 3 on a 9-of-34 night.
Cade Cunningham struggled with a 3-of-10 night while Killian Hayes was limited to 9 minutes in the first half and sat all of the second half. Hayes was ineffective in his minutes, and he seemed to hobble a bit after colliding with a cameraperson in the first half.
It’s unclear if Hayes sat as a precaution against injury or simply because Dwane Casey felt like Cory Joseph, who started the second half in Hayes’ place, gave the Pistons a better chance to compete.
The Pistons will not have long to nurse their wounds as they are back at it Wednesday against the Sacramento Kings.