Klay Thompson’s late-game heroics were lost in defeat Wednesday night, as the Golden State Warriors fell to the Detroit Pistons 122-119 on Saddiq Bey’s game-winning triple just before the final buzzer sounded. Here are three reactions from another dramatic game at Chase Center, one that ends the depleted Warriors’ season-long five-game winning streak.
Klay Thompson catches fire late, again
The Pistons led by eight after the first quarter and three entering the fourth, out-playing the short-handed yet surging Warriors despite sporting the league’s worst record and playing without franchise cornerstone Cade Cunningham, sidelined for the season’s remainder by surgery on his shin. But Golden State fought tooth and nail with Detroit all game long, finally jumping ahead by one midway through the fourth quarter.
The young Pistons didn’t flinch, though, regaining their composure to ensure the Warriors would have to earn a sixth straight win. Klay Thompson, coming off a vintage 54-point performance in Golden State’s instant-classic victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Monday, got the hot hand again when it mattered most. He scored 17 of his team-high 30 points in the fourth quarter, including 10 straight to help the Warriors cut the Pistons’ seven-point lead to one with 4:35 left.
But Thompson’s biggest shot came a few minutes later, when he capitalized off Steve Kerr’s perfectly drawn out-of-bounds play by splashing a right wing triple to tie the game at 117-117 with one second left.
KLAY THOMPSON TIES THE GAME WITH 1 SECOND TO GO 😲pic.twitter.com/2GWENdz7x1
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) January 5, 2023
Bey spoiled a second throwback effort from Thompson on the game’s final possession, draining a turnaround triple as time expired. Don’t let another wildly encouraging night from Thompson vanish in the frustration of buzzer-beating loss, though.
Klay showed off his all-time shooting chops again on Wednesday, but also got to the rim for several tough interior finishes. Remember not just the Hawks game if Thompson continues flashing pre-injury form over the season’s remainder, but this one, too.
Kevon Looney, coming through in the clutch
Forty eight hours after capping Thompson’s 54-point night with a game-winning put back, Looney’s fingerprints were all over another dramatic Warriors comeback late. Check out this pivotal defense-offense sequence below.
Looney’s verticality smothers Bey at the rim, a perfect example of arriving early and textbook execution at the point of attack. Then he tangles with Isaiah Stewart as Thompson lets fly on the other end, somehow pawing and crossing a long rebound away from Alec Burks in one motion. Thompson’s ensuing layup cut Detroit’s lead to 117-116, keeping the Warriors’ come-from-behind bid alive.
Looney wasn’t quite as subtly dominant on Wednesday as he was against Atlanta. There were a couple occasions when rookie Jalen Duren, the youngest player in the NBA, just proved too strong, quick and explosive for him. But a line of eight points, 14 rebounds, six offensive boards, two steals and two blocks is certainly nothing to sneeze at for a big playing Looney’s role, especially when he continues so forcibly impacting winning in the clutch.
Elite home defense falls apart
The Warriors entered this game with basketball’s second-best home defense, allowing 105.7 points per 100 possessions, according to Cleaning the Glass. The Pistons blew that away on Wednesday, finishing with a gaudy 124.7 offensive rating—over 13 points more than their bottom-six season-long mark.
Detroit went 16-of-36 from three, good for 44.4%. The visitors shot an efficient 26-of-44 from the paint, with Duren a perfect 8-for-8. They turned the ball over just eight times, second-fewest in a game this season.
Absent not just Andrew Wiggins and Jonathan Kuminga, their most disruptive one-on-one defenders, but also JaMychal Green and James Wiseman, Golden State simply lacked the overall size and athleticism to consistently bother Detroit’s offense on Wednesday. There’s a chance the Warriors will be without all of them on Saturday against the Orlando Magic, if not longer.
Cross your fingers Wiggins returns by then. Otherwise, Orlando’s unique blend of length, size and explosion all over the court could prove too much for the short-handed Dubs.