After dropping a 32 point lead to 2 points in the span of the second half, Warriors and “defense,” surely would be consider antonyms. “Defense,” however, was how they won the game.
With the Warriors up 2, the Pistons regained possession with 54 seconds left in the fourth. Ben Gordon, intent on driving on Stephen Curry with 5 fouls, turned the corner into the lane only to have the ball poked out by Dorell Wright, diving and securing a timeout.
The Warriors squandered their huge lead mostly within the 3rd quarter when the Pistons began their 21 straight free throw attempts. The Warriors, on the other hand, attempted 6 free throw attempts, total, in the second half. Consecutive charge calls, fouling jump shooters, moving screens were the many fouls that the Warriors committed that helped the Pistons get back in the game.
Charlie Villanueva, seemingly motivated by Kevin Garnett’s accusations as being “cancerous to the league and his team,” made several big three point shots to pull the Pistons to single digits. Villanueva finished with 18 point and 8 rebounds. Ben Gordon had 14 points in 18 minutes and Tayshaun Prince had 15 points.
The Warriors were led by Monta Ellis who scored 21 points in the first quarter. Foul trouble, however, kept Ellis out for huge time blocks in the second and third quarter. Ellis only had 6 points in the second half, one of them a free throw coming with a minute left.
Stephen Curry seems to have gotten himself out of his funk shooting an efficient 7-14, finishing with 21 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists. Dorell had 15, but shot 5-15 from the field.
Lastly, Jeremy Lin played crucial minutes in the 3rd quarter when Curry and Ellis were both sitting out with foul troubles. In limited minutes, Lin had equal stats across the board, doing a little bit of everything on defense, registering 2 points, 1 block, 1 steal, and 1 rebound in his first four minutes on the floor.