Category: Golden State Warriors

Warriors Stiff Hawks Despite Thompson’s Early Exit With Back Stiffness

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By Matthew Harrington

Golden State received a major scare on Friday night, but the visiting Atlanta Hawks weren’t the ones striking fear into the Warriors, nor scoreboard a factor as it was during the last engagement between the two teams. The Dubs skated to a 111-97 win at Oracle Arena this time out, outscoring the Hawks (26-34) in three of four quarters, a far departure from the 101-100 dramatic win in Atlanta in January. The drama from the evening, however, came six minutes into play when guard Klay Thompson shuffled off the court with a back injury, sitting out the rest of the evening.

The Warriors stated that Thompson, a talent on the cusp on super-stardom, was held out as a precautionary measure. His streak of 211 consecutive regular-season appearances, a franchise record, does not appear to be in jeopardy.  Despite only six minutes of playing time, Thompson still managed a point-per-minute output, going 2-for-5 from the field with a pair of free throws.

David Lee topped the Dubs with 18 points in 25 minutes while Andre Iguodala and Stephen Curry contributed 13 points apiece. Curry lead the Warriors with seven assists, while center Andrew Bogut had a team-high nine rebounds. Golden State (39-24) connected on over half of their bids from the floor, hitting 43-of-80 from the field for a 54.8 shooting percentage. They also out-rebounded the Hawks 44-36.

Forward Paul Millsap had 16 points and seven boards, both highs for the Hawks, after missing the previous five games with a knee injury. Fellow forward Mike Scott added 14 points. Scott also provided the comedy for the evening, losing his shoe put proceeding to make a three-pointer on the play.

The first quarter saw even play as the Warriors closed out the first 12 minutes with a single-point, 32-31 lead. It appeared to be more of the same for the 2nd quarter, with the Warriors grasping to a 48-46 lead five minutes from the half. Atlanta would be held to just six points over the closing 300 seconds to head to the half in a 66-52 hole.

The Hawks outscored the Warriors 25-19 in the third, the only instance of Atlanta outscoring its hosts in a quarter Friday night. The final frame of regulation opened on a down note for the visitors though as they failed to put a point on the board until Shelvin Mack hit a jumper with 5:07 left to play. By then the Warriors held a decisive 97-79 margin, allowing Golden State to withstand an 18-12 Atlanta run over the waning minutes of play to come out victorious.

Friday marked the first home game for the Warriors after their second-longest road trip of the season, a six-game swing that saw them go 4-2 against Eastern Conference foes. In a flip of scheduling, the Warriors will only play two of the remaining 10 games in March on the road. They continue the three-game home set with a tilt against Phoenix Sunday before the Dallas Mavericks come to Oakland Tuesday night. The Dubs, winners of eight of their last ten, currently sit in sixth place in the Western Conference standings and are four games back of the Los Angeles Clippers for the Pacific Division lead.

Warriors arena in SF: Opposition too tough for W’s to move to piers 30-32

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by Ken Gimblin

SAN FRANCISCO–Opponents who argue against any kind of development at Piers 30-32 are close to succeeding in stopping any kind of oversized arena, condo or hotel construction. The Golden State Warriors who are trying to move from Oakland to the city have not officially ruled out going to the piers but they realize their odds are not too good with the Waterfront Embarcadero and city voters prepared to vote down any kind of high rise buildings there that would block city views and most are opposed to the cost of rebuilding the piers at $180 million double the original cost.

After numerous discussions the Warriors are prepared to look at their options of leaving Oakland and getting on the waterfront nieghborhood in the city at either AT&T Park in parking lot A on property leased by the San Francisco Giants from the city or a Mission Bay site that is located by UCSF, the latter site is owned by Salesforce who might drive a hard bargain as the property value there is worth $248 million.

The third option is considered the strongest of the three site choices to build a new arena from the financial and least amount of red tape at the Mission Bay site.There would be very little opposition by San Francisco voters in constructing a new arena, new condos and a hotel in this neighborhood. The Warriors would not have to come up against a nieghborhood of opponents who would object to their views being blocked, the team would not have to sell this idea to such organizations like the Regional Bay Conservation and Development Commission, the State Lands Commission, and the Army Corps of Engineers.

The reviews for the Mission Bay site would only have to be overseen by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and two city commissions. City Hall is very supportive of bringing the Warriors to San Francisco in light of losing the San Francisco 49ers to the Southbay this year. A Mission Bay site would sweepingly be voted in to allow the construction of the Warriors new buildings in terms of less hoops to jump through like Piers 30-32. The $248 million Mission Bay price tag is the property price and parking rights at a cost of $23.3 million at a nearby Mission Bay garage and costs and interest on property taxes after the purchase would be additional.

The Warriors would pay the $248 million for the property rights for the Mission Bay site and the city would cover the $23.3 million on the garage costs which would be much less than the $180 million foudation rebuild just on the 13 acre lot at Piers 30-32. Salesforce spokesperson Dane Valley said that the Mission Bay site is just based on rumors and that the sale of the property has never been discussed with the NBA team, “we don’t comment on rumors or speculation” said Valley.

Warriors spokesman P.J. Johnston said the total focus of the club right now is only at Piers 30-32 and that the Warriors are not speculating on any other property either AT&T Park or Mission Bay, “We’re just not going to discuss other sites. Our focus remains on Piers 30-32, which we believe is spectacular, transit rich and a logical place of the event pavilion and eight acres of new public parks” said Johnston.

A source says that the Warriors are not that excited about Mission Bay anyway because of the proximity that it is outside of downtown’s transit centers, that the site lies south of the San Francisco Cal Train station and only the T light rail train comes to the UCSF site. The strongest thumbs down to the Mission Bay site is BART doesn’t run anywhere near the UCSF location. While there is lots of room to develop for what the Warriors are looking for in their customer demographic Mission Bay would not work because the Warriors want that foot traffic from the Embarcadero center crowd and the BART and Muni Metro traffic which is walking distance.

Ken Gimblin is covering the arena developments for the Golden State Warriors and the Sacramento Kings for Sportstalk Radio

Warriors finish off road trip 4-2 with blowout win in Boston

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By Joe Hawkes

BOSTON — One night after Klay Thompson’s game-winning jumper for a 98-96 win in Indiana, Golden State didn’t need any theatrics in Boston to throttle the Celtics 108-88 Wednesday night.

Golden State had five players score in double figures led by David Lee and Klay Thompson, who each scored 18. Lee had a team-high 10 rebounds and the Warriors outscored the Celtics 58-32 in the paint.

Stephen Curry added 14 points on 6 for 10 shooting, and Jordan Crawford chipped in 15 off the bench for Golden State, who outscored Boston 31-18 in the second quarter and carried a 61-40 lead at halftime.

It was a thing a beauty to watch the Warriors share and protect the ball tonight, finishing with 28 assists to only 11 turnovers. For a team that has been plague with turnovers, Golden State moved the ball tonight with fluidity and confidence that you didn’t see earlier in the season.

Golden State forced 12 turnovers (8 ST, 6 BS), while holding Boston to 36-percent shooting (13 for 36) in the first half. It was the 21st time this season that the Warriors have held an opponent to under 40-percent from the field.

In the end of the third quarter, the Warriors found themselves up by 31 with a 80-49 lead and never looked back after two Thompson jumpers.

With the win, Golden State (38-22) finished their six-game road trip 4-2, and improved to 14-5 in their last 19 road games, a feat that no other team in franchise history has ever accomplished.

Boston (20-41)  were led by Kelly Olynyk’s 19 points, while Rajon Rondo added 14 points and seven assists, but committed seven of Boston’s 22 turnovers for the game.

Brandon Bass and Jared Sullinger each finished with 11 points and Jerryd Bayless added 10 for the Celtics, who have lost seven of their past eight games.

Golden State with a day off Thursday, the Warriors play 13 of their final 20 games at Oracle Arena beginning Friday against the Atlanta Hawks.

Thompson’s Game-Winner, 16 4th-Quarter Points Pace Warriors Over NBA’s Best In Indiana

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By Matthew Harrington

The enigmatic road trip continued for the Golden State Warriors Tuesday night when the host Indiana Pacers, owners of an NBA-best home record of 29-4 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, narrowly snatched victory out of the jaws of defeat. Klay Thompson’s 25 points, including the game-winning jumper with .6 seconds remaining, willed the Warriors to a 98-96 decision over Indiana (46-14), owners of the top record in the association, despite Golden State blowing a 13-point lead with a half dozen minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

Thompson rallied the Warriors (37-24) to the win with a 16 point fourth quarter when fellow guard Stephen Curry, the usual bell cow in the clutch for Golden State, went ice cold. Curry finished the night with 19 points, all scored in the first three quarters. Andrew Bogut and David Lee were hemmed in by the Pacers league-best defense for a combined 14 points and 11 rebounds. Pacers forward David West dropped a game-high 27 points while Paul George added 26 of his own. George completed the double-double with a game-best 12 rebounds.

Despite the Pacers topping practically every defensive metric available, the Warriors still connected on close to their season average in field goal percentage (45.5 percent), hitting 44 percent Tuesday on 37 makes out of 84 attempts. The Dubs hit exactly half of their shots from beyond the arc, going 10-for-20 from downtown and their bench outscored the Pacers reserves 34-11.

The Warriors took their first lead, 10-8, after Curry connected on a layup 4:15 into play before Paul George hit a three to restore the Indy edge. Led by a seven-point run from Curry, the Warriors closed out the final seven minutes of the first quarter outscoring Indiana 15-10, finding themselves up 25-21 after 12 minutes of play. The Warriors netted 23 second quarter points to the Pacers 21 to establish a 48-42 cushion at the half.

Indiana pulled within one, 51-50, just 2:18 into the second half and took their first lead since the first quarter two minutes later after Lance Stephenson hit a two-pointer with 4:32 of the clock and the scoreboard reading 56-54 Pacers. The Warriors closed out the final three minutes of the third on a 10-7 run to lead 73-70 three-fourths of the way through play.

The initial six minutes of the fourth and final frame were all Warriors, as they notched 19 points to the Pacers 9, but the home team held the guests to only two field goals in the final five minutes to draw even 96-96 after George hit his second of two free throws with just over a minute left. Klay Thompson’s buzzer beater, a turn-around jumper off a Draymond Green feed, would be the only basket made over the final minute of play, handing the Warriors their first triumph in Indiana since February of 2007.

With Tuesday’s win, the Warriors guarantee they will finish the second-longest road trip of the season going at least .500 after picking up wins in Brooklyn, Detroit and Indiana while falling to Chicago and Toronto. The Warriors can complete the road swing with a fourth win in a Wednesday night swing in Boston to complete the current six-game road set.

Warriors SF Arena: Basketball team could move down the street next to AT&T Park

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by Ken Gimblin

SAN FRANCISCO–San Francisco Giants presdient Larry Baer once proposed to the Warriors a space for a new arena at AT&T Park’s parking lot at Lot A the current VIP lot for Giants customers during the baseball season. Baer actually proposed this idea to the Warriors before any announced idea by the Warriors to build at Piers 30-32.

The Warriors had big dreams for the Pier 30-32 location and according to Warriors spokesman P.J. Johnston they still do, the Warriors would like to build a ten story hotel, a 17 story luxury condo across the street from Piers 30-32 and of course the 12 story new arena on the pylons of piers 30-32.

Johnston and the team realize that the neighborhood opposition is immense and the team has discussed a back up plan to build the arena next to AT&T Park on the parking lot next to the ball park if the Warriros can’t move to piers 30-32, “It’s still full steam ahead on Piers 30-32, but we have always and will always consider backup plans” said Johnston

With that full steam ahead idea in mind the opposition once again are gearing up for a fight, the opponents just recently delivered ballots to city hall proposing to put a ballot measure asking voters if there should be any development that exceeeds over 40 feet at piers 30-32, the Warrios are proposing a 125 foot arena which would block waterfront views of the bridge and the east bay at the Embarcadero. In a poll taken the development idea was shot down because of the objections in height size.

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee who said in light of the San Francisco 49ers leaving the city that a Warriors downtown arena would be a “legacy” to his administration. At first it appeared that the mayor would back off and let the voters decide how they would like this measure to go but has said recently that he wants to see this project move forward according to his press secretary Christine Falvey, “(the mayor) looks forward to sitting down again very soon with the Warriors’ownership to discuss steps for the arena and Piers 30-32 site” said Falvey.

The AT&T Park idea is being taken under consideration by the Warriors as a backup plan if there is a vote that goes against development at the waterfront. There are also plans by the Giants to develop retail, hotel and condo space near AT&T and owned by the team. The Giants are looking to build two apartment towers standing 30 stories and a 2,100 parking garage to make up for the loss of lot A.

The residents might find compromise in that for not losing the views and having development in that part of the waterfront of Piers 30-32. The way it stands right now if the Warriors push for Piers 30-32 development the neighborhood would push right back and oppose any development along the waterfront that goes over 40 stories that would include at AT&T Park or Pier 70 owned by Forest Cities properties who also is considering condo and retail developemnt at the Dog Patch loacation off of Third Street.

Former San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos sees compromise to the idea by building a new arena next to AT&T Park that way the Warriors get to move into the waterfront neighborhood and the neighbors keep the views at Piers 30-32 and minus more Embarcadero traffic on game days, “I am very open to Lot A for a Warriors arena, the leadership of the city should get the Warriors and Giants together to work out a mutually satisfactory business agreement and the sooner they do it, the better” said Agnos.

Baer was not available to talk to Sportstalk radio and declined to discuss this matter, Baer in previous years did propose the idea to the Warriors about an arena on the Giants grounds but the Warriors wanted their own property and building but the team is realizing that this dream is not as easy as they thought it would be. Former San Francisco Board of Supervisor President Aaron Peskin who was a staunch opponent of any development at the piers says he would support a new Warriors arena at Lot A “without hesitation or reservation, it would be perfect” said Peskin.

If the city leadership, Lee, Agnos, the Giants, Baer, the Warriors owners of Joe Lacob and Peter Gruber, and most importantly the neighborhood and the voters of San Francisco find favor for AT&T Park for the arena than the Warriors could be looking at a shot at coming to the waterfront. The measure could get on the ballot for the AT&T arena location as soon as November of this year or as late as 2015.

Ken Gimblin is covering the new arena developments of the Golden State Warriors and the Sacramento Kings for Sportstalk radio

Raptors hold off Warriors behind DeRozan’s 32 points

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By Joe Hawkes

TORONTO, ONT — With Golden State clinging to a 86-81 lead with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Toronto Raptors forced five turnovers (three in the final two minutes) to hand Golden State their second loss on their current six-game road trip, with a 104-98 victory Sunday at the Air Canada Centre.

Raptors All-Star forward DeMar DeRozan had 32 points, six assists and four rebounds. It was DeRozan’s third straight game with at least 30 points and six assists.

Kyle Lowery scored 13 points and dished out eight assists, and Jonas Valanciunas had 10 points and five rebounds on 5 of 6 shooting.

Patrick Patterson and Greivis Vasquez each added 12 points off the bench for Toronto (33-26), who rebounded from a 134-129 triple overtime loss Thursday night against the Washington Wizards at home.

Golden State seemed to run out of gas in the fourth quarter.

Stephen Curry scored a game-high 34 points to go along with seven assists, but he committed six of the Warriors’ 13 turnovers. Curry shot 13 of 27 from the floor, including 4 for 11 from 3 leading to his fifteenth 30-point game of the season (a career-single high). The Warriors All-Star guard had fourteen all of last year.

After halftime, Curry played the whole second half going off for 14 points in the third quarter to finish with 43 minutes.

David Lee finished with 20 points and a game-high 11 rebounds in 43 minutes as well, while Klay Thompson scored 12 points, but was 4 of 15 from the floor. Thompson was struggling to guard DeRozan and picked up five fouls for his troubles.

Harrison Barnes chipped in 11 points off the bench, and Draymond Green dished out a career-high five assists, but Golden State’s bench played short-handed from the beginning. Backup center Jermaine O’Neal didn’t make the trip to Toronto due to passport issues.

With the loss, Golden State (36-24) falls into a tie with the Dallas Mavericks for sixth in the Western Conference. Dallas plays San Antonio Sunday night and with a win, can drop Golden State to seventh with 22 games to go before the playoffs.

Golden State shot 42.0 percent from the field (37 for 88), and 34.8 percent from behind the arc (8 for 23).

This was the game that the Warriors needed to win heading into Indianapolis Tuesday for a matchup with the Eastern Conference-leading Indiana Pacers. The Pacers are tough to matchup especially at home where they are 28-3 on the season.

Indiana defeated Golden State 102-94 on Jan. 20 at Oracle Arena. The Warriors have loss their last six straight games at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Warriors commentary: W’s win in New York should carry over to Toronto Sunday

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by David Zizmor

TORONTO–The Golden State Warriors are in Toronto Sunday afternoon to battle the Raptors for a 1:00 PM PST tip off and the Raptors are a first place club who are holding a four game lead in the Atlantic. The Warriors Stephen Curry who played one of his worst games of the season agianst the Bulls in Chicago last Wednesday in the Warriors 103-83 loss scored only five points going 2-10 as the Bulls contained him on defense.

Then it was onto New York at Maidison Square Garden on Friday night, where Curry was no longer playing doormat as he exploded with 27 points leading the Warriors to a 126-103 win over the Knicks. The Knicks are a mediocre team at best and if they were in the Western Conference they wouldn’t be a playoff team.

In the Eastern Conference their a playoff team but that’s because the Eastern Conference is so much worse than the Western. The Knicks do have Carmelo Anthony who lead the team with 23 on Wednesday who is still one of the best players in the NBA. That definitely gives them a slight edge over the other teams in the east. As far as every single player from number one to number 15 on the Knicks they can’t compete.

The Knicks can’t compete with the top teams in the east and they can’t compete with most of the teams in the west. Their an also ran, their going to tread water so other than that their not very good. There a team that the Warriors should beat and you can’t say that about most eastern conference teams.

Curry going into New York had a triple double which is not as notable or flashy as the 54 points he dropped on the Knicks last year but boy Curry certainly rises to the occasion during a big game when he’s in a notable environment like New York. MSG is one of those places even when the Knicks aren’t very good it still is a great place to play there’s just a certain atmosphere you get there that you don’t get in too many arenas.

Curry dropped 54 points last season at MSG, this time he dropped a triple double and just kind of controlled this game, remember he hit a triple double in essentially three quarters of basketball because he barley played in the fourth, had he been given another ten minutes to play his numbers would have been more impressive.

The Warriors face the Raptors with Toronto’s high scorers DeMar DeRozan (22.7), Rudy Gay (19.4), and Ken Lowry (16.9) the Raptors have got some good offense winning seven of their last ten games. The Raptors have had recent success against Cleveland twice, Orlando, Washington and Atlanta. The Warriors coming into Sunday have won seven of their last eight games.

David Zizmor covers the NBA for Sportstalk radio

Curry Composes Triple-Double Masterpiece in 126-103 Upstaging of Knicks

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By Matthew Harrington

On the biggest stage of the basketball world in the city the boasts the bright lights of Broadway Stephen Curry hogged the spotlight in another part of Manhattan. The Golden State Warriors point guard pieced together a virtuoso performance in a 126-103 blowout over the New York Knicks Friday night on the hallowed court of Madison Square Garden. Curry’s command performance included 27 points, 11 assists and 11 rebounds, a triple-double for the maestro out of mid-major Davidson College.

A year and a day removed from Curry’s opening act, a 54-point explosion at MSG in another Warriors victory, the Warriors All-Star composed his Friday Evening encore on 9 of 19 from the field. Klay Thompson played the perfect accompanist to Curry, falling a basket shy of matching Curry’s 27 points with 25 of his own.

Forward David Lee made his first start, and second appearance, since missing time due to the flu. He pitched in 10 points in 24 minutes of play. Jermaine O’Neal continued his superb support of Lee and the banged-up Bogut, posting 15 points in 20 reliable minutes of play of the bench.

Carmelo Anthony hogged the spotlight for the Knicks (21-38), collecting 23 points on 7-of-26 shooting. He converted the double-double on 16 rebounds, a game-high. Tim Hardaway Jr. had 22 points while J.R. Smith added 17 of his own. The Knicks shooters were held in check by the Warriors defense, with the New Yorkers connecting on a 37.9 shooting percentage.

The Warriors (36-23) spent only a minute of game time trailing the Knicks in total, trading leads six times over the first two minutes. The Warriors would go on a 10-0 lead to stake themselves to a 15-6 lead 4:30 into the first. From there, the Warriors were able to maintain the pace, finishing the quarter with 23 points to 21 Knicks tallies. The second quarter was a repeat performance of the first, with the Warriors outpacing New York 35-25 for a 73-52 edge at the half. The hosts would outscore their visitors 28-26 in the third, but the road team closed out the game with 27 fourth quarter points to 23 from the home squad for the final 126-103 mark.

On tap for the Dubs, winners of five of their last six, is a trip north of the border for a Sunday showdown with the Toronto Raptors before stops in Indiana and Boston. A win for the Warriors at any of the three stops would guarantee a .500 winning percentage on their current six-game road trip, the second longest stint away from home this season.

Warriors bullrushed in Chicago

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By Joe Hawkes

CHICAGO — The Golden State Warriors saw their four-game winning streak come to screeching halt with a 103-83 loss to the Bulls in Chicago Wednesday night.

Taj Gibson led all scorers with 21 points off the bench for Chicago (31-26), who won for the seventh time in eight games.

Carlos Boozer had 15 points and 13 rebounds, while Mike Dunleavy scored 15 points on 3-of-6 shooting from 3-point range. Joakim Noah scored eight points, but couldn’t be kept off the boards, raking in 17 rebounds. Chicago held a 56-41 edge on the boards, and scored 19 points on 16 Warriors’ turnovers.

Golden State (35-23) just didn’t have it going tonight.

Jordan Crawford led all Warriors with 16 points and David Lee came off the bench to score 11 points. Lee missed the previous two games with a stomach flu, met the team in Chicago after not traveling with the team initially.

Chicago really put the clamps on Stephen Curry, holding the All-Star point guard to just five points on 2-for-10 shooing. Curry exploded on the Bulls back on Feb. 6, scoring 34 points on 13-for-19 from the field to go along with nine assists in Golden State’s 107-82 victory in Oakland.

After leading 24-21 at the end of the first quarter, Golden State was gut-punched by Chicago being outscored by the Bulls 82-58 the rest of the way. Chicago neutralized Golden State by forcing the Warriors to shoot 35.7 percent from the field (30-for-84).

But Golden State didn’t have their best game as a whole.

Outside of bigs Andrew Bogut and Jermaine O’Neal combining for 17 points on 8-for-10 shooting, Andre Iguodala and Klay Thompson combined for 13 points, but were 4-for-16 from the floor. Iguodala was 1-for-8.

No one in the Warriors’ starting lineup scored in double figures, which hasn’t happen since 1999.

The Warriors continue their current six-game road trip in New York Friday against Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks.

 

 

 

 

 

No Lee, No Problem as Streaking Warriors Grind Down Pistons for Win

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By Matthew Harrington

It would be hard to believe on a night when David Lee wasn’t even in the building, Andrew Bogut nursed a nagging shoulder injury and Stephen Curry‘s silky-smooth shooting touch went rough that the Warriors would walk away with a W. Monday night proved that anything is possible with the red-hot Dubs, winners now of four in a row since the All-Star break. The Detroit Pistons (23-34) became victim number four, falling at the hands of the Warriors 104-96 at the Palace of Auburn Hills despite Curry nailing just 6 of 15 field goals attempted.

With Andrew Bogut returning to play after injuring his shoulder seven games ago and David Lee missing his second-straight contest with the flu, the load was placed firmly on the shoulders of the Warriors’ lone All-Star Curry. The Human Torch remained relatively damp, hitting only 3 of 9 three-pointers for 19 points but fed his teammates plenty while collecting nine assists. Guard Klay Thompson also had 19 points for the Warriors (35-22), including two that came on a dunk over Kyle Singler that sent the Pistons guard staggering into the stands.

Jermaine O’Neal, starting for Lee who didn’t join the Warriors on the trip, put together another solid performance, netting a second-straight double-double on 16 points and 10 rebounds. O’Neal previously sparked the Warriors 93-86 win over Brooklyn with 23 points and 13 rebounds Saturday night at Oracle Arena. Jordan Crawford had his best night in the blue and gold since coming over in a January trade, picking up 15 points in the Warriors first game of a six-game road trip.

The Piston big men took advantage of the absence of Lee and a limited Bogut (due to injury and foul trouble) with all three members of the starting frontcourt cracking double-digits in scoring. Forward Greg Monroe had a game-high 23 points and Josh Smith converted the double-double on 18 points and 11 boards. Starting center Andre Drummond picked up 11 points while Singler bounced back from the debilitating dunk to pick up a respectable 18 points.

The Pistons controlled play early, taking a 10-point lead with just over 5 minutes left in the 1st and the Warriors trailing 22-12. The Dubs closed out the quarter on a 21-15 lead to get within striking distance at 37-33. Golden State took its first lead since the 2:14 mark of the game after Harrison Barnes nailed a trey with 1:11 gone in the quarter. Just 35 seconds later, Crawford hit one from downtown to pad the Warriors edge to 41-37.

The two teams traded the lead twice over the rest of the half with the Warriors wresting it away from the Pistons for good on an Andre Iguodala layup with three minutes remaining to make it 55-54 for the visitors. The Warriors would head to the intermission clinging to a slim 63-62 advantage.

The two teams fought tooth and nail yet again in the second half, exchanging leads five times in the third to give the Pistons am 83-81 lead after 36 minutes of regulation. Down the stretch the Warriors limited Detroit to just 13 points while scoring 23 of their own to take home the victory, Golden State’s sixth consecutive victory over the Pistons.

Up next for the Warriors, three games back of the Los Angeles Clippers for first in the Pacific Division standings, is a trip to the United Airlines Center in Chicago for a Wednesday night showdown with the Chicago Bulls. The six game road trip also includes stops in New York, Toronto, Indiana and Boston.