By Robert Steward

OAKLAND–

The Golden State Warriors extended their winning streak to five games, defeating a feisty Detroit Pistons squad, 105-98. With the win, the Warriors maintained their league-best record, improving to 51-12. The 51 wins matches their win total from last season, with 19 games remaining in the regular season. Barring a total collapse, Golden State should be a lock to set the team record for most wins in a season. The 1975-76 team finished 59-23 in the regular season, losing to the Phoenix Suns in the Conference Finals, one year after defeating the Washington Bullets in a four-game sweep in the NBA Finals, the last year the franchise won the NBA Championship.

This year’s team has shown no signs of letting up. Tonight was no different. The Warriors took their first lead, 9-8, on a jumper by Draymond Green with 8:15 left in the first quarter. They eventually built the lead to 10, at 26-16 with two minutes left in the quarter before the Pistons made a 9-2 run to trim the lead to 28-25. Andre Iguodala grabbed an offensive rebound following a Harrison Barnes miss and made a 13-foot jumper as the horn sounded and the Warriors led 30-25 after one quarter.

In the second quarter Golden State once again built a double-digit lead, going up as much as 44-31 following a shot by Marreese Speights with 7:43 left in the half. But, as they did in the first, the scrappy Pistons fought back, cutting the lead to five, 56-51, at halftime.

As the third quarter unfolded Detroit continued chipping away at the Warriors’ lead, eventually tying it at 65, then going ahead, 67-65, on a Tayshaun Prince jumper at the 5:26 mark. Both teams then took turns holding the lead until Golden State scored 7 unanswered points to go up 79-73 before Detroit’s Spencer Dinwiddie hit a three pointer as the quarter ended to draw back to within three, at 79-76, entering the 4th.

The Warriors opened the 4th by missing their first 5 shots, allowing Detroit to regain the lead, 81-79, before Shaun Livington’s jumper at 9:07 broke the scoring drought and tied the game at 81. It was at this point in the game that Golden State finally put the pesky Pistons away, going on an 18-2 run to take their biggest lead of the night, 97-83. During the scoring run Klay Thompson scored 9 of the 18 points. For the game Thompson finished with a game-high 27 points, leading the way for Golden State, who had 6 players reach double figures in scoring. Green and Iguodala both had 13 points each. Speights and Andrew Bogut each scored 12 points, while Leandro Barbosa chipped in 10. Detroit’s Andre Drummond was an absolute beast on the boards, hauling down a career-best 27 rebounds, 17 on the offensive side, to go with a team-high 22 points. Greg Monroe scored 20 points, Reggie Jackson added 14, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope finished with 13.

Golden State improved to 28-2 at home. Detroit fell to 23-41, overall, on the season. The Warriors will travel to Denver to take on the Nuggets on Friday at 6pm.