Rodney Stuckey leads Detroit Pistons past Golden State Warriors
After being benched in their previous game, Rodney Stuckey bounced back with an impressive game to lead the Detroit Pistons past the Golden State Warriors, 102-97, on Sunday 7 November at
The Palace of Auburn Hills in Michigan.
Stuckey, who was punished after ignoring head coach John Kuester in their loss against the Atlanta Hawks on 3 November, started for his team and he responded well, racking up 21 points and
nine assists for Detroit.
“That doesn't matter now, this was just another game,” said Stuckey on the turmoil he had with Kuester. “The only thing on my mind tonight was to go out there and do my job.”
The Pistons also got a big boost from Richard Hamilton, who scored a team-high 27 points after missing two games before coming off the bench in their win against the Charlotte Bobcats on
Friday 5 November.
“I knew Rip had been struggling a little, but I wasn't worried,” said Stuckey on Hamilton, who went 2-for-7 from the field against the Bobcats. “Rip's a shooter, and he's going to go out
there and shoot each and every game. We all knew he was going to get it going.”
The Pistons were down by three points, 76-73, heading into the fourth quarter before Hamilton scored seven points in the first two minutes of the final period, giving the Pistons a five-point
lead, and they held off the Warriors’ late rally to escape with their second-straight win before going to a four-game West Coast trip, which will include another match against the Warriors.
“When you are going to the West Coast, it is always important to have a good performance in your last home game,” Pistons coach Kuester said. “I'm not sure this was beautiful basketball tonight,
but we got another win, and two in a row feels good when we are heading west.”
Monta Ellis spearheaded his team’s attack with his 24 points, while Dorell Wright continues to have a great performance this season, scoring 19 points for the Warriors, who are perfect in
their four home games, but are 0-2 on the road.
“We need to learn how to win these games on the road,” said Golden State coach Keith Smart. “It is tough to travel, but you have to be ready. I knew that team has a lot of pros who were going
to get after us, and they did.”
Reggie Williams added 12 points, while all-star forward David Lee, who also recognized their lacklustre performance on the road, racked up 11 points and seven rebounds, which was way below
his average of 12.2 boards a game prior to their match against the Pistons.
“We still need to establish our identity on the road,” Lee said. “We haven't had much time to do that yet, this was only our second road game, and this was the first one that was close. We
just had too many careless mistakes tonight. Fixing that will come with time.”
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