Warriors beat Pistons 102-98 to finish 6-0 road trip.
Durant dazzles: Without injured guard Curry, team caps first 6-0 trip as Durant scores season-high 36 and Green brings high-level defense and passing against pesky Detroit
DETROIT >> On nearly every spot on the court stood Kevin Durant, as he scored at will from the perimeter, the free-throw line and at the rim. On nearly every spot on the court stood Draymond Green, as he set his teammates up with open looks and stuffed opponents at the rim.
The Warriors may miss Stephen Curry’s outside shooting and floor spacing as he remains sidelined for the next two weeks with a sprained right ankle.
But the Warriors seemed just fine in a 102-98 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Friday that featured Durant doing everything on offense and Green blending a perfect array of playmaking and defending. As a result, the Warriors (21-6) became only the 11th team in NBA history to go undefeated in a six-game trip.
Durant posted a season-high 36 points while shooting 12 of 23 from the field and 3 of 6 from 3-point range and adding 10 rebounds and seven assists.
“He has the ball a lot more obviously. He’s so capable of making plays for himself or for others,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “That’s the biggest thing. He’s got a much bigger burden on his shoulders offensively. He handled it beautifully.”
Despite those increased ballhandling duties, Durant played the same way that earned him eight All-Star appearances, a regular-season MVP and a Finals MVP. The Warriors also logged 29 assists, which is near their season average when Curry is normally on the court (30.9).
“It’s just more opportunity. Coach may call a couple more plays for me. But he always keeps me involved,” said Durant, who surpassed former Warriors player Bernard King for 45th place on the NBA’s alltime scoring list. “Obviously we’re going to want to have our leading scorer and we don’t have him out there. So we try to generate different points in different ways.”
Green could not generate points. He scored two points on only 1-of-6 shooting in a performance he refused to blame on his sore right shoulder even if he conceded passing up some shots. But Green compensated with a seasonhigh 13 assists and a careerhigh six blocks.
“I never judge my game by the way I shoot on any partic-
ular night,” Green said. It’s just something you have to be able to contribute in other ways when your shot is not falling.”
Durant’s shot was falling, but his game was not perfect. Durant committed a costly turnover that set up Pistons guard Avery Bradley sinking a 3-pointer that cut the Warriors’ lead to 100-98 with 22.7 seconds left. After Warriors guard Shaun Livingston then missed two foul shots, Warriors guard Klay Thompson and Livingston stopped Pistons guard Reggie Jackson at the basket. Thompson, who had 21 points, then made two foul shots for a 102-98 cushion with 5.3 seconds remaining.
The lasting image for Durant, though, traced back to the second quarter. As he stood at the top of the key, Durant reached a moment where he had plenty of options to dig out of what he has called his “bag of tricks.”
This time, Durant unveiled his precise footwork, smooth ball handling and accurate shooting stroke. He crossed over Pistons guard Anthony Tolliver three times. Durant then cut toward above the freethrow line. Then he pulled up for a midrange jumper that splashed into the net.
“As soon as I wake up, I feel like this whole life is a street ball game to me,” Durant said. “I try to look at it as such. When I’m out there, I try to be creative and go back to how I started playing the game. Plays like that, definitely bring me back to my childhood. I just try to approach it that way with a street ball mentality and it helps me out.”
That also helped out
Green.
“Draymond’s game is never measured by whether he is making shots or scor- ing points,” Kerr said. “When he does, it’s just gravy. But it’s everything else that he does that makes him such a star.”
• With how frequent their text messages have become during these politically divisive times, it did not exactly surprise Kerr what Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy thought about athletes who protest.
Kerr still called it “awesome,” though, that Van Gundy wrote in a Time oped that Kerr considered “brilliant.” Van Gundy offered public support for athletes that have protested racial inequality by kneeling during the national anthem and speaking out on such issues.
“He’s a friend and somebody I respect because of his willingness to speak out and call people out and say what he thinks without fear of repercussion,” Kerr said. “He doesn’t care what anybody says and thinks about him. He professes that. That’s an important quality these days.”
• Warriors center Zaza Pachulia sat out against Detroit after aggravating his sore left shoulder on Wednesday against Charlotte, though Kerr reported an MRI taken on Thursday did not reveal anything serious. Warriors guard Patrick McCaw missed his second consecutive game after nursing concussion symptoms. McCaw has since advanced toward completing work on a treadmill, a bike and an eye test as part of the NBA’s concussion protocol. He plans to have a noncontact workout on Sunday.