Three quick observations from Saturday night’s 113-95 win over the Golden State Warriors
SLAM DUNK – On the night the Pistons honored one of the greatest defensive players in NBA history, they had just enough defense to slow down the NBA’s most irrepressible force, the Golden State Warriors top-ranked offense. The Pistons opened the second quarter with a 17-3 run to take an 11-point lead and opened the fourth with a 9-0 run to go ahead by 20 points with 10 minutes to play. Golden State, which came into the game 37-3, had not lost a game this season when they had their five starters available. As you’d expect, the Pistons had their share of heroes. Andre Drummond finished with 14 points and 20 rebounds. Backup center Aron Baynes, who left early in the fourth quarter after taking a knee to the thigh, went 6 of 6 for 12 points. Reggie Jackson had 20 points and eight assists, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 20 points and five boards and Marcus Morris 16 points. When Brandon Jennings couldn’t go in the second half with a jammed ankle, Steve Blake gave the Pistons a huge seven minutes, hitting his only two shots, both 3-pointers. Blake was on the floor when the Pistons opened the 20-point lead early in the fourth quarter. Golden State shot just 36.6 percent – Big Ben approves.
FREE THROW – The Pistons went with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope on Steph Curry, just as they did in November when he held Curry to 22 points on 7 of 18 shooting. The Warriors reciprocated, using their best perimeter defender, Klay Thompson, on Reggie Jackson and guarding Caldwell-Pope with Curry. When Caldwell-Pope scored 16 points against Curry in just his first 17 minutes of playing time, the Warriors swapped Thompson on to him and put Curry on Jackson. Curry showed some of his frustration in picking up a technical foul late in the second quarter after getting demonstrative after throwing up a circus shot that fell but not getting a foul call. A few possessions later, Caldwell-Pope blocked a Curry shot that led to a breakout dunk for Marcus Morris. But it’s tough to keep MVPs down forever and Curry got it going in the third quarter, hitting 4 of 6 3-pointers and scoring 16 points on his way to 38. Caldwell-Pope, in addition to scoring 20 points, added five rebounds, three steals and a blocked shot.
3-POINTER – The Ben Wallace ceremony at halftime was well done with heartfelt speeches from Pistons owner Tom Gores, ex-Pistons coach Larry Brown and Rasheed Wallace, representing the teammates of the 2004 NBA champions. Brown told Wallace, “You broke the mold. There’ll never be another one like you. They said we didn’t have any superstars on that 2004 team. They didn’t know what they were talking about. You were the best defensive player at your size I’ve ever seen. There’ll never be another one like you.” Rasheed Wallace said, “To be able to play with you, good brother, the way we connected mentally, never be nothing else like it. I’m glad that I played with you and I’m glad we played right here in front of these people. This is your night. I love you, my brother.” Also present from the 2004 team were Chauncey Billups, whose jersey will be retired next month, in addition to Tayshaun Prince, Rip Hamilton, Mike James, Lindsey Hunter and Mehmet Okur. Several video messages were shown, including ones from Pat Riley, Kobe Bryant, Gregg Popovich and former teammates Jerry Stackhouse and Corliss Williamson.
