Pistons vs. Warriors preview: Ending the West Coast swing in San Francisco

The Pistons conclude their West Coast trip with a game against the Warriors in San Francisco on ESPN.

Summarized by AI ⓘ

What is the story about?

If the Pistons needed a wakeup call about the flaws of their roster, this West Coast trip has been a bit of an eye-opener. After nearly losing to the Denver Nuggets due to a lack of shooting and discipline at the end of the game, the luck ran out for the Pistons as they once again struggled to hit outside shots before getting run off the floor against the Phoenix Suns last night.

It wasn’t just the lack of shooting that has pretty much been a concern all season, but the Pistons were out-hustled, out-worked,

and put in their place by the short-handed Suns, which also happened against the even more short-handed Nuggets. Luckily, they have a chance to bounce back against the Golden State Warriors tonight on ESPN.

The Warriors have been hot the last month, but they also recently lost Jimmy Butler to a torn ACL, so they are definitely vulnerable and it provides an opportunity for the Pistons to finish off this road trip with a winning record.

Game Vitals

Where: Chase Center in San Francisco, CA
When: Friday, January 30 at 10 pm EST
Watch: ESPN
Odds: Golden State (-1.5)

Analysis

The Warriors really looked like they were finally starting to put things together to go on one last run as Steph Curry reaches the end of his legendary career, but a torn ACL for Jimmy Butler has put the Warriors in a position where they pretty much have to shoot for a big move at the deadline to try to keep their season on track.

Don’t get me wrong, the Warriors are still a good team without Jimmy Butler simply due to the extensive Championship experience for their core of Steph Curry and Draymond Green, but missing a 2nd option that can take pressure off of Curry on offense while also taking pressure off Green on defense in Butler is a huge loss.

The Pistons and Warriors are actually on a very similar level offensively this season, but the Pistons obviously have the edge defensively. But, the one thing the Pistons do not have is somebody that can take over a game shooting the ball like Steph Curry, who is still averaging 27.3 points per game at 37 years old and just barely shooting under 40 percent from beyond the arc.

The build of the Warriors without Jimmy Butler is actually pretty similar to the Pistons where they have Steph Curry to carry the offense like the Pistons have Cade Cunningham and they surround him with role players that can defend, but leave a little to be desired on offense. They aren’t quite as poor at shooting from beyond the arc as the Pistons are, but in a playoff setting, not having that secondary creator to take some pressure off of your main guy is a huge problem to overcome.

I haven’t canvased the rest of the league to officially confirm, but I think I can go out on a limb and say the Warriors have the oldest starting frontcourt in the NBA with the 39 year-old Al Horford and 35 year-old Draymond Green. Both players are still very solid defenders, but their best days on that end of the court are behind them.

The one positive from last night’s game against the Suns was their inability to slow down Jalen Duren, which was probably the solution for the Pistons’ 2nd half offensive struggles, but he didn’t end up playing as much as he should. Peak Horford and Green would have no issue with slowing down Duren, but he has a huge athletic advantage over both of them that he will have to take advantage of if the Pistons want to win.

In reality, the key for the Pistons is to simply not shoot as poorly as they have on this West Coast road trip. They were 6-of-29 from beyond the arc against the Suns and 6-of-31 against the Nuggets. That isn’t going to cut it against some of the better teams in the West no matter how short-handed they may be. The Pistons do not have a ton of shooters, but Duncan Robinson being 1 of his last 14 from beyond the arc is a huge reason for the shooting numbers for the Pistons.

They have gotten by this year with Duncan Robinson as the main spacing threat and it has been able to work against so many different teams because of the Pistons dominant defense and ability to control the glass and the paint, but when they are not controlling the paint and Robinson is shooting like this, everything looks ugly on offense. They have not been able to do either thing against both the Nuggets and Suns, which is why they had to squeak out a win against the Nuggets and were run off the court by the Suns.

The solution is going to probably have to be sacrificing some defense for more shooting, but that also messes with the Pistons identity, one which has been very clearly established this season.

It will be interesting to see how Trajan Langdon balances that, but for now, the Pistons have an important game against the Warriors with a chance to head home with a winning record on this road trip.