The Golden State Warriors got trounced on Wednesday by the team with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference. They now visit the club atop the conference standings, the Detroit Pistons, on Friday night.
Detroit received some disturbing news on Thursday, when Cade Cunningham was diagnosed with a collapsed lung. The All-Star guard will miss at least two weeks of action.
The Boston Celtics dismissed the visiting Warriors 120-99 on Wednesday, outscoring Golden State 36-23 in the first quarter and never looking back. Golden State (33-36) has lost eight of its past 10 contests. The matchup against the Pistons will be the Warriors’ fourth stop on a six-game journey.
“We did a lot of things well offensively, got a lot of good looks,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said after the defeat against the Celtics. “It was just a night where shots didn’t go down. We’ve got to be a lot better defensively. Some game-plan mistakes early, A lot of fouling at the beginning of the third quarter got us in trouble.”
The Warriors were six games over .500 in mid-January but haven’t won consecutive games since that point. A big reason is the loss of Stephen Curry, who sustained a knee injury in Golden State’s last meeting with the Pistons on Jan. 30.
Curry is expected to return to action later this month for a team that is 6-13 since he got hurt.
The Warriors are essentially resigned to participating in the play-in tournament. They currently are in 10th place in the Western Conference standings. The top six teams automatically qualify for the first round of the playoffs.
As it stands right now, the Warriors would have to win two play-in tournament games on the road to make the playoffs.
“We had our eyes on (sixth place) for a while,” Kerr said. “That’s out of the question now. We’re not getting there. If we can string together some wins, you know, try to get to (eighth), that’d be ideal. We’d get two cracks at it. But we’re not getting to seven. We know that.”
Cunningham was injured during the first quarter against the Washington Wizards on Tuesday while diving for a loose ball. The club originally listed his injury as back spasms. Further testing revealed the collapsed lung.
“It’s tough. Tough for Cade to go through what he’s going through now,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “He’s a huge part of what we do from a leadership standpoint. The talent’s there, but being around him every single day makes people’s days better. We’ll miss that.”
After winning the game on Tuesday, the Pistons won in Washington again on Thursday, 117-95, their fifth victory in six games. Detroit’s other All-Star, center Jalen Duren, had 24 points and 11 rebounds while backup Paul Reed tossed in 17 points.
The result allowed the Pistons to notch their first 50-win season since the 2007-08 campaign.
Detroit (50-19) now returns to Michigan for a four-game homestand and will try to hold onto the East’s top seed without its leader.
“It is our responsibility to keep pushing forward,” Bickerstaff said. “We know he will be there rooting for us. When he starts to come around, he’ll be cheering for us while helping coach and leading. It is everybody’s responsibility to keep moving forward. We just put our head down, 10 toes forward, and go to work.”
