Curry scores 27, Warriors employ hack-a-Ben strategy to beat Pistons 95-88

Warriors rally to beat Pistons 95-88

OAKLAND, Calif. — Stephen Curry scored 27 points and the Golden State Warriors used the hack-a-Ben strategy to finish their rally from a 14-point deficit in the second half to beat the Detroit Pistons 95-88 on Saturday night.

Anthony Tolliver added 19 points and 14 rebounds, and C.J. Watson scored 17 points in place of injured leading scorer Monta Ellis as the Warriors snapped a five-game losing streak against the Pistons.

Golden State held Detroit without a field goal for the final 3:52, with the Pistons only point in that span coming on a free throw by Ben Wallace on one of three trips to the line after intentional fouls by the Warriors. Wallace missed five of his six attempts late in the game, including consecutive air balls in the final minute.

The Warriors played the game short-handed with Ellis sitting out with a sore back. They had just eight healthy players dressed for the game and then lost Andris Biedrins to a strained right groin in the third quarter. But they took advantage of 11-for-26 foul shooting by Detroit to pull out their third win in the last four games they have played without Ellis.

The Warriors trailed by 14 points early in the third before rallying. They scored nine straight points in one stretch and cut the deficit to 69-66 on Watson’s 3-pointer in the final minute of the period. Watson scored Golden State’s first seven points of the fourth quarter, giving the Warriors a 73-72 lead with a 3-pointer just more than 2 minutes into the period.

Golden State hacked Wallace, fouling him on purpose on successive trips late in the quarter. Wallace, a 43 percent foul shooter coming into the game, missed three of the four free throws before coach John Kuester called a 20-second timeout to remove Wallace.

Anthony Tolliver’s basket down low gave Golden State an 89-88 lead with just under 2 minutes remaining. With the Pistons down by two in the final minute, Ben Gordon missed a long jumper and Tolliver deflected the long rebound to Watson, who made one free throw with 25.2 seconds left to make it 91-88.

Wallace was fouled again when he got the inbound pass and shot consecutive air balls to drop to 1 for 9 from the line for the game. Anthony Morrow made two free throws at the other end to make it a five-point game with 22.7 seconds to go.

Tayshaun Prince scored 18 points to lead Detroit. Rodney Stuckey added 17 and Richard Hamilton had 16 as the Pistons dropped their third straight game.

The arena was barely half-filled at the start for this matchup between two of the league’s worst teams. The fans who didn’t show up didn’t miss much. The teams combined to hit less than one-third of their shots in the opening quarter.

Dunks by Ben Wallace and Tayshaun Prince in the final minute gave the Pistons a 50-37 lead at the half. Detroit held the Warriors to their lowest first-half total of the season.

NOTES: Pistons F Jonas Jerebko limped off the court in the fourth quarter with a sprained left ankle and did not return. … Pistons F Chris Wilcox was inactive with a sore back. … Warriors big man Ronny Turiaf got a technical foul after scoring a basket early in the fourth quarter.