Detroit @ Golden State preview
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Last Meeting ( Dec 29, 2020 ) Golden State 116, Detroit 106
The Detroit Pistons will be out to avenge an earlier defeat when they visit the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night in San Francisco.
The clubs met in the second week of the season in Detroit, with the Warriors riding 31 points from Stephen Curry and 27 from Andrew Wiggins to a 116-106 victory.
The Pistons got 27 points that night from Jerami Grant, but just eight from Blake Griffin in 17 minutes before he had to leave the game with a concussion.
Griffin and the Warriors are longtime rivals dating back to his days with the Los Angeles Clippers. He's faced them 37 times in his career, including seven times in the 2014 playoffs.
With Griffin going for 24 points in Game 7, the Clippers outlasted the Warriors in that series, prompting Golden State to fire coach Mark Jackson and replace him with Steve Kerr.
The Warriors then went on to make the NBA Finals in each of the next five seasons, winning three championships.
Griffin has a career 13-24 record against Golden State, with losses in two of his three meetings since joining the Pistons and each of his last nine head-to-heads with the Clippers.
The 31-year-old turned back the clock against another longtime rival -- the Los Angeles Lakers -- on Thursday night, going for 23 points in a 107-92 home win.
"That was Blake rested, of two years ago, healthy and with some bounce and pep in his step," Pistons coach Dwane Casey gushed afterward. "That's what we needed. We needed a jolt on a back-to-back. I'm really happy with the way that he played."
Wayne Ellington (6-for-9 on 3-pointers, 20 points) and Mason Plumlee (17 points, 10 rebounds) were surprise contributors to the win over the Lakers, which was just Detroit's fifth in 19 games this season.
Ellington continued a franchise-record 3-point run, during which he has made at least four in seven straight games. The Warriors' Curry is one of just seven players in NBA history to have had such a seven-game flurry.
Curry leads the NBA in 3-pointers. He added five to his total in Thursday's 114-93 loss at Phoenix as the Warriors, like the Pistons, were playing for a second time in two days.
Wiggins complemented Curry's 27-point night with 16 of his own on 6-for-11 shooting. They combined to go 16-for-31, while the rest of the team struggled to 22-for-68 (32 percent).
The loss came after a two-game home sweep of the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Warriors have put together five two-game winning streaks this season, only to lose the next game each time.
"We're a growing team," newcomer Kent Bazemore assessed after the Phoenix game. "We put together spurts where we have some good basketball. But obviously, we're still trying to get better."
While the Pistons will be opening an eight-day Western swing, the Warriors will be playing the first of two straight at home. They host Boston on Tuesday.
Detroit concludes its trip on Feb. 6 with a rematch against the Lakers in Los Angeles.
--Field Level Media