Preview: Old rivals Green and Griffin battle as Pistons face Warriors

Game Details

WHO: Detroit Pistons vs Golden State Warriors

WHEN: Sunday, March 24th; 5:30 p.m.

WHERE: Oracle Arena — Oakland, CA

WATCH: NBCSBA

LISTEN: 95.7 The Game

Blog Buddy: Detroit Bad Boys

The champs are less than 24 hours removed from a blowout loss to the rebuilding Dallas Mavericks,

The Detroit Pistons also tasted defeat last night from the Portland Trail Blazers.

Both the Warriors and Pistons are headed to the playoffs, and would like a win to solidify some seeding. The Dubs are in a heated battle with the Denver Nuggets for the #1 seed in the West, while the Pistons are fighting to keep their 6th seed position away from the Brooklyn Nets in the East.

The last time these two squads faced off, the Pistons were the victors in a 111-102 victory in Detroit.

Damian Jones was the Warriors starting center that night, an evening in which Pistons’ giant Andre Drummond rumbled his way to 16 points and 19 rebounds. Things may be a little different this go round, with the appearance of DeMarcus Cousin and return of Andrew Bogut.

But the main event is probably going to be Blake Griffin vs Draymond Green. Green missed that December loss in the Motor City, and his defensive presence could have helped keep Griffin from tallying up 26 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists (although he was limited to 9-of-22 shooting). These two have a competitive rivalry going back to the days of the Warriors vs Clippers wars of yesteryear. “Lob City” may have been washed away by the tremendous Splash, but the individual hoop animosity still burns between these two power forwards.

After the Pistons dropped the game in Portland last night, Griffin spoke of his frustration with the team’s inability to get into their offense. Per the Detroit Free Press:

“There were a couple of plays where we didn’t even get into a set,” Griffin said. “After the first pick-and-roll we just kind of stopped and that’s on me... I got to do a better job of getting us into sets and get us in position for easy shots.”

The Warriors defensive captain Green felt his team “got punched” and didn’t have the requisite energy to get pumped up in their loss to Dallas. I’m sure he’ll be anxious to rectify that poor performance against Griffin’s Pistons.