The Golden State Warriors have names. Big names, All-Star names, All-NBA and Most Valuable Player-candidate types of names. The Detroit Pistons, for a weekend anyway, had game, which was more important and the best first step in a team and then its players making names for themselves.
* Recap: Pistons 115, Warriors 107
Impressive enough on Saturday in handing the LA Clippers their first defeat of the young 2017-18 season, the Pistons topped themselves by beating the Warriors at Oracle Arena 24 hours later. Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press was on the scene:
After the stunning 115-107 victory over the defending champion Golden State Warriors, the players were embracing they don’t have a signature star.
Who needs one, when they have each other?
The longest-tenured Piston spoke for the entire room.
“With the Warriors, they got Steph (Curry), Klay (Thompson), Kevin Durant, you expect to get 20-plus out of them every night,” said Pistons center Andre Drummond, who finished with five steals and 18 rebounds and helped the Pistons overcome a 14-point deficit in the second half. “It’s so much different because anybody on any given night (can deliver). One night it could be Avery (Bradley), one night it could be Tobias. Tobias had 30-plus (two of the first five games), but after that Reggie’s coming back now.
“With us, it’s such a good core of guys that are able to put the ball in the basket. You never know who’s going to get off that night.
The stunning victory that sent Warriors fans to the exits with 52.5 seconds left came one night after the Pistons (5-2) started the three-game West Coast trip with a comeback victory over the previously perfect Los Angeles Clippers.
According to Fox Sports Detroit, the Pistons are the first team since the San Antonio Spurs in November 2014 to complete a sweep of a back-to-back against the Clippers and Warriors.
…
The Pistons are 3-1 on the road and 2-0 on the second night of back-to-backs.In three of their five wins, the Pistons have overcome double-digit deficits — all of them on the road. The third game of the trip looms Tuesday night at the Los Angeles Lakers.
The success could show developing mental toughness. Only seven games into a long season, no one was popping Champagne afterward.
“Two wins is two wins,” said Stanley Johnson, the talented third-year forward.
“At the same time you lose to the 76ers, you beat the Warriors – you’re still 1-1 to me. The only thing that matters is finishing this trip against the Lakers – take a day off to cover and keep pushing.”
* * *
No but seriously, that was an incredible win by the Pistons. Teams do not win at Oracle on the 2nd night of a back-to-back. pic.twitter.com/8YkK8J2zGJ
— Micah Adams (@MicahAdams13) October 30, 2017
"If you're a fan of progress, that's what you're getting." – @Barryathree on @DetroitPistons after win over Warriors#GameTime pic.twitter.com/hvLxwW2Jb5
— NBA TV (@NBATV) October 30, 2017
