Despite high expectations early on, the Detroit Pistons aren’t getting what they thought they would after adding Josh Smith to the Andre Drummond-Greg Monroe equation. The Golden State Warriors have no plans to overload the frontcourt and see what happens, especially not with Stephen Curry in sharpshooter mode, leading his team with 25 points to an easy 113-95 win.
The secret behind Stephen Curry seems to be Andre Iguodala, who just does whatever it is the team needs him to. When Curry is hurt, he joins Klay Thompson to take on the scoring duty, but the rest of the time, besides his excellent defense, he seems to be busy with playing the point-forward role, finishing the game with 11 assists, the second time he’s had this many so far this season.
The Pistons were never in the game after the first quarter, scoring only 16 points to the Warriors’ 35. They got close in the third quarter, bringing down the lead to 15 and building up some sort of momentum, but it was quickly halted by a 23-10 run led by Curry and Iguodala, who scored or assisted on every basket during that run. Both players sat out the final quarter, which is a rarity for Curry, who is only used to getting rest in the final minutes when there’s an injury concern.
The Warriors did a great job of moving the ball, which led to 60% from the field and 50% from beyond the arc, not to mention out-rebounding a Pistons team that should have that department covered. The Warriors also turned the ball over 23 times, but when that aspect of the game doesn’t hurt you coaches tend to ignore it, at least publicly, as the Warriors need to do a better job at playing this fast and moving the ball this quickly without becoming careless.
An incredible dominance at home for the Warriors, trailing for a total of just 23 seconds in three home games this season, winning all their games by at least 11 points. There’s a more complete and cohesive sense to the Warriors’ basketball this season, looking like more than just hoping Stephen Curry makes the right decision as he hangs on to the ball for most of the time, as it was in the conference semifinals against the Spurs. Deeper in the season we’ll learn more about their ability to change their offense according to the circumstances, but it’s working fine so far.
The Pistons had grand expectations when they added Josh Smith and Brandon Jennings, but Smith played only 19 minutes against the Warriors, scoring 2 points. If he continues jacking up three pointers and jumpers at the rate he’s been going at it so far, being three games under .500 is only the beginning. Shooting 42.5% from the field and 18.7% from beyond the arc isn’t new, but there are no signs of it getting better either, as the Brandon Jennings style of basketball at point guard isn’t really helping this team turn it around, losing five of their last six games including four in a row.