Golden State @ Detroit preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 29, 2017 ) Detroit 115, Golden State 107

The Golden State Warriors passed their first test without Stephen Curry in the lineup and are one win away from sweeping their longest road trip of the season. The Warriors will try to cap off a 6-0 trip when they visit the Detroit Pistons on Friday.

Curry went down with a sprained ankle late in a 125-115 win at New Orleans on Monday and is likely to miss a couple of weeks, so Golden State turned up the defense and leaned on its other MVP as Kevin Durant recorded a triple-double with 35 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in a 101-87 win at Charlotte on Wednesday. "It wasn't so much vocal leadership," Warriors coach Steve Kerr told reporters of Durant. "It was an 'I got this' type thing with the way he carried himself. Clearly the dominant player on the floor, and I think he showed, without Steph in particular, he almost had a different bounce in his step." The Pistons are not quite as strong on the road and finished off a 0-4 trip with a 104-100 loss at Milwaukee on Wednesday. "We've just got to keep our head up," Detroit center Andre Drummond told reporters. "We can't allow these losses to get us down. It's a long season."

TV: 7 p.m. ET, ESPN, NBCS Bay Area (Golden State), FS Detroit

ABOUT THE WARRIORS (20-6): Golden State was also without All-Star forward Draymond Green (shoulder) but got 22 points from Klay Thompson on 9-of-14 shooting. Thompson is averaging 22 points on 61.8 percent shooting, including 54.8 percent from 3-point range, on the trip but knows Friday's contest will be a challenge. "It's the hardest game of the trip because you look forward to going home so badly," Thompson told ESPN.com. "But we have to lock in for 48 minutes and realize that Detroit's a tough team and not going to lay down because we're 5-0."

ABOUT THE PISTONS (14-10): Each of the last three losses on the trip came by five or fewer points, and coach Stan Van Gundy lamented the things his team failed to do in Milwaukee. "We didn't do enough of the little things," Van Gundy told reporters. "We gave up free-throw rebounds - two of them. Screw up some out-of-bounds play defense. Simple stuff that's easy to do and we didn't take care of it." The bright spot in Wednesday's loss was Drummond, who collected 27 points on 12-of-16 shooting and 20 rebounds in his fourth straight double-double.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Pistons SF Stanley Johnson shot 25.8 percent from the floor on the four-game trip, including 3-of-14 from 3-point range.

2. Warriors SG Patrick McCaw is in the concussion protocol while C Zaza Pachulia (shoulder) was knocked out of Wednesday's game and is unlikely to play Friday.

3. Detroit earned a 115-107 win at Golden State on Oct. 29 behind a combined 45 points from Gs Reggie Jackson and Avery Bradley.

PREDICTION: Warriors 109, Pistons 102