The Pistons’ organization honored Ben Wallace by putting his jersey in the rafters. The Pistons’ players honored his legacy by giving the 37-3, defending champion Warriors just their second full strength loss of the season!
What a game! Beating Golden State isn’t easy. But the Pistons didn’t just beat them, they blew them out with a complete team effort. No Piston played poorly tonight. Pretty much the only time you can normally say that is when the Pistons don’t have a game.
The Pistons benefited more from the whistles in this one than the Warriors. But the real key is that the Warriors unraveled when the calls weren’t going their way. They picked up three technical fouls and had about a dozen possessions when they looked like they were playing frustrated basketball instead of smart, calm basketball.
For most of the game, Golden State was actually getting better shots than Detroit. And they are better shooters than the Pistons. So it was a bit of a miracle that the Pistons were hitting more. But that miracle would only have added up to a close win for the Pistons at best. The blowout was because they played harder, smarter, and more composed basketball. Go Pistons!
On a final note, the Ben Wallace ceremony was awesome. It was a bit weird seeing Big Ben with neither the fro nor the cornrows and instead with a very salt and pepper buzz cut, but it was also just great to see him in the palace again. The only disappointing thing about the ceremony was that Joe Dumars didn’t make it.