Warriors throttle Pistons 118-91 and enjoy some postgame fun

SAN FRANCISCO — The 2020-2021 Warriors are a team that is best described as consistently inconsistent. While it sounds like an enigma, it is accurate. To be consistently inconsistent is to do something often enough without establishing a pattern or an identity. Case in point, Golden State has yet to win or lose three games in a row.

Following a brutal loss in Phoenix to the Suns by 21 points, the Warriors (11-9) returned to Chase Center and quickly built up a 13-3 lead against the Detroit Pistons (5-15) on Andrew Wiggins' 3-pointer with 7:30 remaining. From there the Warriors steamrolled their way to a 23-point lead at the half and up by 32 in the third quarter to win it 118-91.

In basketball, it is all about numbers. For the Warriors, the most important number is holding their opponent to under 100 points. Golden State is now 2-0 in that category. The first time they held a team to under 100 was when they dominated the Spurs in a 121-99 victory ten days ago.

Following that blowout win over the Spurs, they were embarrassed 119-104 against the Knicks the very next day. That was the game Draymond Green was ejected in the third quarter when he was yelling at teammate James Wiseman after a turnover. The officials thought his rant was directed at them.

They are a Jekyll and Hyde team and on this night the Warriors alter ego was absent as they played a nearly flawless game.

“It was a great night and right from the start," Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said. "We rebounded well tonight and held them to seven offensive rebounds out of 48 misses, so that’s pretty good. We still fouled too often and that’s something we have to keep working on, but all-in-all one of our best efforts of the year.”

While the Warriors have yet to put together a significant win streak, they have posted victories in three of their last four games.

“I’m excited after every win," Kerr said. "Whether we win by 73 or 15, wins are awesome. This is what we do this for. Winning is just an incredible high. These guys just work so hard and we all work so hard to try and have nights like this, but we would like to have them more often.”

On the telecast, Klay Thompson, injured for the second year in a row, joined the NBC Sports Bay Area crew and had a spirited discussion during the game with play-by-play announcer Bob Fitzgerald and color analyst Kelenna Azubuike. The highlight was the one-on-one postgame interview with Stephen Curry.

During Coach Kerr's postgame Zoom call I was spending time with my brother and nephew, who was playing indoor basketball because he is a huge Warriors fan. He successfully converted a two-handed dunk using a mini basketball. For a 10-year old, I was impressed. I yelled out, "two-handed slam!" Why would I write about this? Unbeknownst to this reporter, I was listening to Kerr on my phone and somehow unmuted myself.

It was obviously an embarrassing moment for me as my growing pains with Zoom were put on display to the masses. It was serendipitous that Kerr was in good spirits and realized my error was unintentional. Nonetheless, I will serve the two-game suspension he imposed on me.