Warriors return home to throttle Pistons

ORACLE ARENA — The Warriors put on a clinic in ball movement in front of a sellout crowd Tuesday in their 113-95 win over the Pistons.

Stephen Curry led the way with 25 points and 8 assists in the Warriors third consecutive blowout win at home followed by Jermaine O’Neal and David Lee who both chipped in 17.

The Pistons were led by Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe with 16 and 15 points respectively while the Warriors held Detroit’s newly acquired star Josh Smith to just two points.

Golden State finished the night with 28 of their 42 made buckets assisted and a slew of passing highlights.  Coach Mark Jackson said that his starters set the tone of the entire game by sharing and moving the basketball:

“The great thing about it is that you can be unselfish not just offensively, but defensively as well.  I thought we did a superb job of paying attention to the details.”

Andre Iguodala had a pair of flashy behind-the-back passes in the first half leading to points for both David Lee and Andrew Bogut.

Coach Jackson jokingly told SFBay that at this point he expects for Iguodala to have flashy plays and behind-the-back passes during the game because he’s that good of a player.

Iguodala said that he’s just happy knowing that the guys are already used to it and looking out for it:

“It’s a lot of fun when you’re playing that way and you’re hitting guys and they’re expecting it while the defense doesn’t know what to expect.”

The Warriors started the game with a 7-0 run, including Bogut’s first dunk of the night on an alley-oop pass from Thompson, and finished the frame with all five starters scoring.

Golden State started the second quarter with a 35-16 lead and all non-starters (Bazemore, O’Neal, Green, Barnes, Speights) on the floor. They lost their rhythm offensively with their reserve lineup and brought Curry and Thompson back on the court with 8:55 left in quarter.

With the Warriors starters back on the floor, Golden State closed out the first half with a 21-point lead.  Coming out of the intermission, the Pistons came to life briefly, going on a 9-0 run of their own.

Curry quelled the Pistons attempt at a comeback scoring 12 in the third quarter and passing to Harrison Barnes for a dunk that gave the Warriors their largest lead of the game (29).

Pistons head coach Maurice Cheeks said that there wasn’t enough energy and fight in his team. He wasn’t happy about it:

“I was a little disappointed in our effort, yeah.  You can’t get down 20 to 25 points and be happy with the effort.”

The final frame gave rookies Nemanja Nedovic and Ognjen Kuzmic an opportunity to show their stuff during garbage time, as the Warriors held a double-digit lead to finish the game.

Turnovers, though, plagued the Warriors bench. After three quarters the Warriors had only committed 13 turnovers. They then added 10 more in the fourth quarter alone.

Jackson said that even though his starters and Jermaine O’Neal had set the tone for the game he was extremely disappointed in his bench’s performance:

“They did a bad job of taking care of the basketball.  I’m not happy at all with that.  They have to be better.”

The Warriors, now 5-3 overall, continue their home stand facing the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday, Nov. 14 and the Utah Jazz Saturday, Nov. 16.

Notes

The Warriors improved to 3-0 at home this season, leading by as many as 27 points in all of their home games this season. … The Warriors won their fifth-straight against the Pistons, their first five-game streak vs. Detroit since 1992-94. … The Warriors outshot the Pistons .600-.425 from the field, the first time they’ve shot 60 percent-or-better since March 25, 2011. … Under Mark Jackson, the Warriors are a perfect 16-0 when dishing out 28-plus assists. … Stephen Curry finished the night shooting 9-of-9 from the free throw line, the fourth time in his career he’s hit nine-plus free throws without a miss.  Jermaine O’Neal came off the bench to total season-highs in points (17) and rebounds (6).

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