The Warriors went into the weekend on a win and came out with losses on back-to-back nights to two Eastern Conference lottery teams.
Charlotte handed Golden State an overtime loss Saturday and the Pistons, led by a balanced scoring attack, defended their home court Sunday with a 128-114 victory.
Last year, the Warriors (3-4) lost on back-to-back nights just three times all season.
Stephen Curry and Jordan Poole combined for 62 points, but no other Warrior scored more than 10. The Pistons, not known as marksmen, shot 42.4% from deep to stave off Golden State’s comeback push. Cade Cunningham, Sadiq Bey, Bojan Bogdanovic and Isaiah Stewart each scored at least 20 points.
Here are three takeaways from the Warriors’ loss.
Poole splashing
For over a decade, a Steph Curry heat check has been arguably the most exciting, drop-everything-and-watch moment in basketball.
His backcourt mate Jordan Poole did quite the impersonation in the third quarter.
The Warriors trailed by 19 a few minutes into the second half. No shots were falling from the outside. They needed to find some offense.
Enter: Jordan Poole, who walked into Little Caesars Arena wearing his alma mater Michigan Wolverine jacket.
It only took one shot to light Poole’s fuse. He canned a left-wing 3 with 8:46 in the third to bring Golden State within 16.
Then Draymond Green found Poole underneath on a back cut, taking advantage of Jaden Ivey’s off-ball aggression for an and-1. Then in transition, Curry found Poole for a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer. Cash.
After those nine straight points, Poole stole an errant pass and walked into yet another triple. The heat check continued with another 3 assisted by Curry. Fifteen points in one minute and 41 seconds.
Then Poole broke down Bojan Bogdanovic with a stepback trey from the top of the key. He couldn’t miss.
Poole dropped 18 in the third quarter alone. With his brilliant shot-making, Poole personally willed the Warriors back into the game.
Klay Thompson – DNP (rest)
On the second leg of a back-to-back, it’s unsurprising the Warriors gave Klay Thompson a night off. Steve Kerr knows how crucial it is to play the long game, that there’s no reason to push veterans too hard at the risk of wearing them down for when the season really matters.
So Thompson, but not Stephen Curry or Draymond Green, sat Sunday. The shooting guard played a season-high 31 minutes in Saturday’s overtime loss to Charlotte, scoring 11 points on 14 field goal attempts.
Against Detroit, Poole started in Thompson’s place. Jonathan Kuminga, previously out of the rotation, saw an increased role off the bench but didn’t particularly help his case.
Thompson and Kerr have noted that slow starts aren’t unusual for the four-time All-Star. The Charlotte clunker dropped his 3-point percentage to 28.6% through six games. But dig deeper and Thompson’s season has been even stranger thus far.
The future Hall of Famer didn’t have a normal offseason due to a mental block that prevented him from playing 5-on-5. He made his thoughts clear about Charles Barkley’s remarks that his game is slipping. And that emotional harangue came a game after his first career ejection.
Perhaps a night off could help serve as a bit of a reset for Thompson.
Wiseman, still up and down
With Draymond Green picking up three early fouls, it would have been a big spot for Wiseman to step up and produce. He did not.
In his first stint, Wiseman got scored on in the post by Isaiah Stewart, who gave him the “too small” gesture; Wiseman has at least four inches on the bulky Pistons big. Wiseman was also late on a rotation on another possession, leading to an easy Detroit bucket.
With Wiseman struggling defensively, the Warriors went to a 2-3 zone. The Pistons’ lack of outside shooting made it a viable solution, but only momentarily.
The center sat on the bench for the second as the Pistons outscored GSW 34 to 18 in the quarter. And still as Detroit opened the second half on a 16-2 run. Golden State didn’t go back to Wiseman until the third quarter.
Wiseman looked a bit more disruptive in the second half but still fumbled a wide open alley-oop and failed to close out to Stewart on a walk-in 3. He also affected a shot inside and met Hamidou Diallo at the rim to draw an offensive foul on a poster attempt. When Wiseman’s in the right position, he can be a defensive force just from his sheer size and athleticism.
Wiseman entered Sunday with one of the worst plus-minuses in the NBA. But even in some games, he’s put up solid counting numbers while his units got outscored. Sunday was a reversal; the center finished with a modest 6 points and four rebounds but went down in the box score as a season-high +9.