Warriors lost Kristaps Porzingis, made 26 TOs vs Pistons in blowout loss

The losses continue to pile up for the Warriors.

They lost to Kristaps Porzingis in the first half. They lost control of the ball 26 times. And they lost to the Pistons on Friday night, 115-101, for the ninth time in their last 11 games.

Both teams were without their best players after Cade Cunningham was diagnosed with a collapsed lung, but Jalen Duren led Detroit’s six scorers in double figures with 23 points.

The Warriors’ 26 turnovers set a season high and led to Golden State attempting nine fewer shots than the Pistons. De’Anthony Melton (14 points), LJ Cryer (3 of 5 3) and Brandin Podziemski (15 points) scored in bursts, but no Warriors player found the net consistently enough to overcome their carelessness with the ball.

What does it mean

It looks like the Warriors will have to go 9-10 in this playoff game. Golden State’s last loss dropped them to 10th place behind the eighth-place Trail Blazers and ninth-place Clippers.

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A place to change

There was never a point where the Warriors played anything resembling clean basketball, so they were done as soon as the tip opened, even though they built a lead as big as nine midway through the first half.

In their absence, the Warriors had little to no fault against the top team in the Eastern Conference, and created their own cacophony.

MVP: Brandin Podziemski

All 11 Warriors saw the floor commit at least one turnover, but Podziemski was only responsible for two despite serving as the primary ball handler for most of his minutes.

Game status: 14

As their injuries piled up, the Warriors played 14 straight games with five different starts each night. Steve Kerr was finally able to start the same program against Detroit as he did in Boston. Only the Grizzlies (16) have the longest streak in the NBA this season, and the last time the Warriors went 14 games without the first five was in 2008-09.

It looks like Golden State will have to use a different starting lineup for Saturday’s game against the Hawks after Porzingis left late in the first half with back pain and did not return.

Next

The Warriors will face Jonathan Kuminga and Klebe in the second half in a row on Saturday. Kuminga has missed 11 of 17 games since the Warriors traded him to Atlanta for Porzingis, but he is expected to be available when he faces his former team.

Golden State will also provide an update on Steph Curry (knee), who missed his 20th consecutive game but has begun to expand his basketball career.