Zaza Pachulia is in the house, which means the Warriors will hand him his second championship ring. Warriors vs. Pistons watch guide: Lineups, injury report, player usage originally appeared on nbcsportsbayarea.com OAKLAND -- Following Saturday's 126-91 beatdown courtesy of the Dallas Mavericks, the Warriors are set to welcome an old friend as the Pistons come to town Sunday evening. Pistons big man, Zaza Pachulia, who was a member of the Warriors' last two championship teams, will receive his ring Sunday. Coverage on NBC Sports Bay Area begins at 4 o'clock with Warriors Outsiders, followed by Warriors Pregame Live at 4:30 and scheduled 5:40 pm tip-off. [RELATED: How to watch Warriors-Pistons live online on the MyTeams app] Pachulia, who signed with the Pistons last summer, is a critical piece of the Warriors championship fabric. Signed in 2016, Pachulia was a mainstay in the frontcourt during the 2017 championship run, averaging 6.1 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 1.9 assists, starting every game. Last season, with coach Steve Kerr tinkering with lineups mid-season, Pachulia lost his starting spot following the All-Star break and played in just seven postseason games. However, his lasting impact in Golden State will be his professionalism and guidance to the team's young bigs like Jordan Bell and Kevon Looney. On Sunday, the Warriors will reward those qualities with his second championship ring. PROJECTED LINEUPS Warriors F Kevin Durant F Draymond Green C Andrew Bogut G Klay Thompson G Stephen Curry Pistons F Blake Griffin C Andre Drummond G Reggie Jackson G Wayne Ellington G Bruce Brown INJURY REPORT Warriors: Kevon Looney (Right Forearm Contusion) is questionable. DeMarcus Cousins (Load Management, Return from Achilles Injury), Andre Iguodala (Rest) and Damian Jones (Left Pectoral Surgery) are out. Pistons: No injuries to report ROTATION OUTLOOK Warriors After a one-game absence for rest, Curry is back in the lineup. Durant will hope to play better after a 9-of-25 performance Sunday. With Cousins out, look for Bogut to get the start as Steve Kerr prefers to keep the rotation intact. Story continues Curry will look to get his shot back on track. In his last game, Thursday's win over Indiana, he made just 5-of-15 from the field. Over his last five games, he's shooting just 42.3 percent. Pistons Detroit, like Golden State, will be playing their second game of a back to back Sunday afternoon. Griffin has been fantastic this season, averaging 24.7 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 5.4 assists, earning his sixth All-Star appearance. Joining Griffin on the Pistons imposing frontline is Drummond, who's averaging 15.4 rebounds this season and could provide a headache for the Warriors all night long. Officials: Josh Tiven (#58), Tyler Ford (#39), Ray Acosta (#54)<doc-sep>There are no moral victories — not for a team scuffling in its past 10, trying to make the playoffs, and, maybe more importantly, trying to avoid the eighth seed and a matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks if they are lucky enough to even get into the playoffs. So there wasn’t much good news wrapped in Detroit’s 121-114 loss to the Warriors at a raucous Oracle Arena on Sunday night. The thing is, as I watched the game I struggled to think of things I’d wished the Pistons would do differently. Detroit played far from of a perfect game, but the things they were trying to do made sense. The shots they were hoping Golden State would take made sense. The Warriors just kept making ... well, everything. Golden State shot 62 percent overall and 52 percent on 3-point attempts. They made just about every mid-range shot Detroit forced them to take. It turns out Dwane Casey’s shot spectrum is not Steve Kerr’s shot spectrum. The Warriors are the NBA’s No. 1 mid-range offense in the NBA, and they killed Detroit all night with clean, open looks as Detroit scrambled to chase people off the 3-point line and protect the rim. Even when Detroit defenders were right in a Warriors players face, they were still canning 3s with ease. The biggest thing you could say about Detroit’s performance is that Reggie Jackson had an off game and never seemed comfortable (seven points on nine shots), and that Blake Griffin was pretty awful on the defensive end and could never get untracked against Draymond Green on offense. Griffin ended up with a team-high 24 points thanks to bullying his way to the free-throw line where he went 9-of-10. Andre Drummond had a relatively pedestrian 12 points and 11 rebounds and never was able to put his stamp on the game. The brightest spots for the Pistons were the bench unit of Luke Kennard, Thon Maker and Langston Galloway. the trio combined to go 17-of-26 with seven 3s. Kennard led the group with 20 points while Maker and Galloway had 12 apiece. A desperate Casey even played an ultra-big lineup of Maker, Griffin and Drummond at the same time in the second half, but the results were largely the same as the rest of the night — decent offense but not enough stops on defense. The Warriors were led by their back court of Steph Curry (26 points), Klay Thompson (24) and Kevin Durant (14 points, 11 assists). The Pistons will get a day off and then face Denver Nuggets looking to salvage a second win on this 5-game road trip. The loss puts Detroit one game up on Miami, who currently sits eighth in the Eastern Conference. Detroit is also two games up on Orlando. That might seem too close for comfort, but Orlando is about to go on a little gauntlet of its own with the Sixers at home before a four-game road trip that sees them facing the Heat, Pistons, Pacers and Raptors.<doc-sep>Click here if you’re having trouble viewing the video or gallery on your mobile device. OAKLAND – The shots became easier to make. The joy also became infectious. That is usually what happens when Stephen Curry steps onto the court. That is also usually what happens when the Warriors maximize their All-Star talent with ball movement and effort. Hence, the Warriors cruised to a 121-114 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Sunday at Oracle Arena nearly 24 hours after experiencing a 35-point loss to Dallas. The Warriors (50-23) also created a one-game cushion over the Denver Nuggets (49-23) for the best record in the Western Conference with nine regular-season games remaining. In related news, Curry finished with 26 points while shooting 9-of-19 from the field and 5-of-10 from 3 after missing Saturday’s loss to Dallas. “He looked fresh right from the outset,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “Obviously the rest is not just for one night. It’s for the long haul. It was the right thing to do. He looked great out there.” So did plenty of other players. Klay Thompson subscribes. You can too for just 11 cents a day for 11 months + receive a free Warriors Championship book. Sign me up! Klay Thompson added 24 points while going 10-of-17 from the field and 4-of-6 from 3. Kevin Durant added 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting while dishing out 11 assists. Draymond Green bolstered the team with playmaking (14 points, eight assists) and physical defense on Pistons forward Blake Griffin. It might be hard to anticipate which Warriors team shows up these days against non-descript opponents. On Saturday, the Warriors experienced their most lopsided defeat of the season against a Dallas Mavericks team that owns the second-worst record in the Western Conference. On Sunday, the Warriors experienced minimal hiccups against a Detroit Pistons (37-36) team fighting for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. But the Warriors had a good indication things would turn out much differently against the Pistons. The primary reason? Curry returned. “Pretty much everything has to do with Steph being on the floor,” Durant said. “He creates so much on the pick and roll, with his movement and 3-point shooting. Just his presence out there opens up a lot for us. It was huge and good to have him back.” Aside from an 11-game absence from a left groin injury, Curry had otherwise proven durable in his 10th NBA season. He already has logged more games this season (60) than last season (51) amid overlapping ankle injuries. Prior to Saturday’s game against Dallas, Curry had appeared in 44 consecutive contests. But Dr. Rick Celebrini, the Warriors’ director of sports medicine and performance, recommended for Curry to miss a game. Want Warriors news delivered to your phone? Sign up for a free trial of Mark Medina’s Warriors text messaging service * * * “I felt great,” Curry said. “To be honest, when they brought the idea up, it wasn’t on my radar at all. I was feeling good. I try to pride myself on being available.” The Warriors downplay that it had anything to do with Curry’s wife, Ayesha, celebrating her 30th birthday this weekend. Instead, Kerr observed that Curry appeared tired in the past two weeks. Curry also has shot 42.4 percent from the field in 12 games through March and 41.3 percent in 10 games through April. That marked a sharp contrast from his shooting in January (46.4 percent) and February (51.5 percent). “It wasn’t a fatigue thing. To me, it was how the game was going,” Curry said. “”It’s a lot about rhythm now at this point and getting close to the playoffs and wanting to be fresh and a good vibe and chemistry. I got to balance all of that.” Either way, Curry conceded “feeling a little bit of fresher legs” after spending the weekend celebrating his wife’s birthday while also staying active with his shooting workouts and training sessions. The Warriors hope the same thing happens to their other players. Warriors center DeMarcus Cousins missed Sunday’s game because of “load management,” marking the third time he did not play in the team’s entire back-to-back slate to prevent any complications with his surgically repaired left Achilles tendon. Kerr planned Cousins will sit in part of the Warriors’ two remaining back-to-back slates this season. Warriors forward Andre Iguodala also missed Sunday’s game as part of the team’s season-long quest to rest him occasionally to ensure he stays fresh for a presumed postseason-run. As for Curry, though, the Warriors do not plan on sitting him again anytime soon. The Warriors’ success largely hinges on it. “Doubt it’ll happen again,” Curry said. “But I definitely have to take advantage of it.” WARRIORS HQ PODCAST: Be sure to visit our podcast page at mercurynews.com. You can also get notified of new episodes on iTunes, Google Play Music, Spotify, Stitcher and SoundCloud. * * * Follow Bay Area News Group Warriors beat writer Mark Medina on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.<doc-sep>
The Golden State Warriors win their 50th game of the season, holding off the Detroit Pistons 121-114. In his fourth game back for the Golden State Warriors, Andrew Bogut made his presence felt on both sides of the floor in their 121-114 win over the Detroit Pistons. The Splash Brothers led the way at Oracle, with Steph Curry (26 points) and Klay Thompson (24 points) combining to shoot 9-of-16 from the three-point line, while Kevin Durant and Draymond Green chipped in 14 points each. Bogut recorded eight points, five rebounds, three assists and three blocks in the win, creating plenty of space for the Warriors shooters with his bone-crunching screens and playmaking from the elbow. When he wasn't creating for others, he took matters into his own hands, getting the Oracle crowd going with this coast-to-coast effort in the third quarter. Defensively, Bogut was immense, using his physicality to make life tough for the Pistons frontcourt in his 24 minutes of action. Blake Griffin recorded 24 points on just 6-of-14 shooting, while Andre Drummond managed just 12 points on 4-of-9 from the field. Drummond grew frustrated with Bogut in the fourth qaurter, exchanging words after getting tangled up with the Aussie after a Griffin free throw. Bogut and Drummond got tangled up and exchanged some words. Tempers flaring At Oracle tonight. pic.twitter.com/3lQmIjg7Rl - TheWarriorsTalk (@TheWarriorsTalk) March 25, 2019 After losing to the Dallas Mavericks yesterday by 35 points, their largest home loss since 2007, Golden State went back to basics, turning up their defensive pressure and moving the ball with ease as they racked up 31 assists on 46 field goals. "We know we didn't play well yesterday, terrible performance from start to finish so we just wanted to make sure we came out with right energy and mindset and we were locked in from the start, especially defensively and we got the win," Bogut said post-game. "We committed to moving the ball. The first half the ball was going around the horn, everyone was getting a touch, everyone felt involved and we had easy wide open shots for the most part." With Bogut in the lineup, the Warriors showed flashes of their 2015 selves on both sides of the floor, with the Aussie seamlessly fitting back into the rotation like he never left. "It hasn't been too hard," Bogut said of adjusting to the team. "We're running a lot of similar stuff when I was last here. Obviously, a few more iso plays for KD because he's such a talented scorer and our defence is pretty much the same, so it didn't take me long to pick up it was more about getting some sleep and getting over the jet lag." The Warriors reclaimed the #1 seed in the Western Conference after today's win, their 50th of the season. The Denver Nuggets remain a half game back at 49-23 with 10 games remaining in the regular season.