{"id":670309,"date":"2026-03-21T06:58:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T06:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/670309\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T06:58:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T06:58:16","slug":"warriors-vs-pistons-player-grades-brandin-podziemski-leads-a-lackluster-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/670309\/","title":{"rendered":"Warriors vs. Pistons player grades: Brandin Podziemski leads a lackluster loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Golden State Warriors lost to the Detroit Pistons 115-101<\/a> on Friday night, in a game that was not as close as that score would suggest. The Dubs were outsized, outmuscled, out-talented, and out-executed.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll get through the grades quickly tonight, because it wasn\u2019t pretty. Frankly, the Warriors did not play as well as the score suggested: it was only that close because of a garbage time run, and because the Pistons had one of their worst shooting nights from distance all season, which was emphatically not due to anything Golden State\u2019s defense did.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

As always, grades are based on my expectations for each player, with a \u201cB\u201d grade representing the average performance for that player.<\/p>\n

Note: True-shooting percentage (TS) is a scoring efficiency metric that accounts for threes and free throws. Entering Friday\u2019s games, league-average TS was 58.0%. <\/p>\n

Gui Santos<\/p>\n

30 minutes, 13 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 turnovers, 3 fouls, 4-for-10 shooting, 1-for-4 threes, 4-for-4 free throws, 55.3% TS, -3<\/p>\n

The best thing that Santos did in this game was sub back in after leaving the contest early and heading to the locker room. Thankfully he seemed just fine, and wasn\u2019t hampered for the rest of the game.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t the problem for the Warriors in this one, but he wasn\u2019t the solution, either. He had a well-balanced stat line, but that includes a lot of turnovers and fouls. He did some good things on offense, but wasn\u2019t particularly efficient.<\/p>\n

Grade: C<\/p>\n

Draymond Green<\/p>\n

22 minutes, 0 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 4 turnovers, 2 fouls, 0-for-2 shooting, 0-for-2 threes, 0.0% TS, -15<\/p>\n

In the opening minutes of the game, we were treated to the total 2026 Draymond Green package. On the defensive end of the court, he took a gutsy charge when he stepped in front Jalen Duren, a very, very large human who was moving at a violent pace. Then, on the ensuing offensive possession, he made a truly atrocious pass for a turnover. On the very next possession, he defended brilliantly at the rim and then recovered in time to get the rebound. A few seconds later, he made a disastrous outlet pass for a turnover.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

The Warriors chances are reflected in Green\u2019s performances, and it was pretty clear from this one that nothing is going to come of this season.<\/p>\n

Grade: D
Post-game bonus: Led the team in assists.<\/p>\n

Kristaps Porzi\u0146\u0123is<\/p>\n

11 minutes, 5 points, 3 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 1-for-5 shooting, 1-for-4 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 42.5% TS, -6<\/p>\n

Porzi\u0146\u0123is didn\u2019t play well in this game, but that doesn\u2019t matter. What matters is that he left the contest in the second quarter with back pain, and didn\u2019t return<\/a>. Porzi\u0146\u0123is didn\u2019t sound terribly concerned after the game, saying the issue was back spasms and that he was quite stiff. He said he probably won\u2019t play on Saturday against his former team, the Atlanta Hawks, but didn\u2019t rule it out. Unfortunately, given his history, it seems much more likely that he misses a handful of games than that he misses none.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Grade: Heal up!<\/p>\n

De\u2019Anthony Melton<\/p>\n

23 minutes, 14 points, 4 rebounds, 1 block, 4 turnovers, 5-for-14 shooting, 2-for-6 threes, 2-for-3 free throws, 45.7% TS, -21<\/p>\n

Melton was the only offense the Warriors had early in the game. He scored the first nine points for the Warriors (including the first five scored by either team), and by the time he took a seat on the bench for his first rest, he was the only player on the team to have scored. Unfortunately, things went from good to very bad after that. He stopped scoring, though he didn\u2019t stop shooting. He couldn\u2019t penetrate Detroit\u2019s physical defense, and finished with four turnovers and no assists. His defense wasn\u2019t good. Just a forgettable game for him.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Grade: D
Post-game bonus: Worst plus\/minus on the team.<\/p>\n

Brandin Podziemski<\/p>\n

30 minutes, 15 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 4-for-10 shooting, 2-for-4 threes, 5-for-6 free throws, 59.3% TS, -6<\/p>\n

It speaks to how poorly the Warriors played that it really felt like Podziemski was a non-factor on offense, and then I looked at the box score and realized he led the team in scoring and was one of the only players to have above-average efficiency. Go figure. Sorry, Podz. My bad.<\/p>\n

All things considered, he was arguably the team\u2019s best player, though it still wasn\u2019t a great performance.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Grade: B
Post-game bonus: Led the team in points, tied for the team lead in rebounds.<\/p>\n

Gary Payton II<\/p>\n

25 minutes, 14 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 6-for-8 shooting, 1-for-2 threes, 1-for-2 free throws, 78.8% TS, -3<\/p>\n

Relative to prior expectations, it\u2019s been an absolute offensive explosion for Payton lately. Where are all these buckets from? He\u2019s scoring so efficiently, because he\u2019s feasting on cuts to get easy buckets at the rim. It\u2019s pretty phenomenal, and a joy to watch. It also might result in him playing himself out of Golden State\u2019s budget for next year. We\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Grade: A<\/p>\n

LJ Cryer<\/p>\n

16 minutes, 10 points, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 3-for-6 shooting, 3-for-5 threes, 1-for-1 free throws, 77.6% TS, +2<\/p>\n

Cryer returned to the court after a few days off to heal up his hamstring. He instantly helped the offense in his return. His shooting is no joke, and the spark and spacing it provides is critical on a team that is missing Steph Curry and traded away Buddy Hield. He deserves to be on a guaranteed contract next season, whether with the Warriors or with someone else.<\/p>\n

Grade: A-
Post-game bonus: Tied for the best plus\/minus on the team.<\/p>\n

Pat Spencer<\/p>\n

23 minutes, 6 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 3-for-6 shooting, 0-for-3 threes, 50.0% TS, -8<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Not a very good game for Pat. He tried hard, but just couldn\u2019t get anything going. He did a few good things, but it always seemed to require a whole lot of effort.<\/p>\n

Grade: C<\/p>\n

Will Richard<\/p>\n

28 minutes, 11 points, 1 rebound, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 3 fouls, 4-for-5 shooting, 1-for-2 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 93.5% TS, -4<\/p>\n

Richard had a sneaky good game of the bench. It was a tremendously efficient scoring game, as he was very selective with the shots he took \u2026 and then made them. He wasn\u2019t quite as impactful as usual on defense, but he was still very good on that end of the court. Would like to see more rebounds and fewer turnovers, but all things considered, a strong game.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Grade: B+<\/p>\n

\u00d6mer Yurtseven<\/p>\n

21 minutes, 8 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers, 3 fouls, 3-for-7 shooting, 2-for-6 free throws, 41.5% TS, +2<\/p>\n

Yurtseven was kind of scattered in this game. It reminded me of pickup basketball \u2026 he was all over the place, for better and for worse. He made some interesting shots, but missed a whole lot. He grabbed a ton of rebounds and loose balls but kept turning the ball over. Strong YMCA vibes, in good and in bad.<\/p>\n

Grade: C+
Post-game bonus: Tied for the team lead in rebounds, tied for the best plus\/minus on the team.<\/p>\n

Malevy Leons<\/p>\n

11 minutes, 5 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 2-for-3 shooting, 1-for-2 threes, 83.3% TS, -8<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

With respect to Leons, the most notable part of his game was a hilariously on-brand for Steve Kerr move: after Porzi\u0146\u0123is left the game, Leons entered the starting five in the second half \u2026 despite not playing in the first half, and finishing with the fewest number of minutes on the team (other than Porzi\u0146\u0123is). Zaza Pachulia would be proud!<\/p>\n

Anyway, Leons played pretty well, I thought.<\/p>\n

Grade: B+<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s inactives: Jimmy Butler III, Seth Curry, Steph Curry, Al Horford, Moses Moody, Quinten Post, Nate Williams<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Golden State Warriors lost to the Detroit Pistons 115-101 on Friday night, in a game that was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":670310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3773],"tags":[869,208,7,860,1328,296,188,3860,200,164,870,912,1103,871,17311,26292,1104,30493,6,868,297,1102,10133,932,17879,85116,13226],"class_list":["post-670309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-detroit-pistons","tag-al-horford","tag-atlanta-hawks","tag-basketball","tag-brandin-podziemski","tag-buddy-hield","tag-detroit","tag-detroit-pistons","tag-detroitpistons","tag-draymond-green","tag-golden-state-warriors","tag-gui-santos","tag-jalen-duren","tag-jimmy-butler-iii","tag-kristaps-porzingis","tag-lj-cryer","tag-malevy-leons","tag-moses-moody","tag-nate-williams","tag-nba","tag-pat-spencer","tag-pistons","tag-quinten-post","tag-seth-curry","tag-steph-curry","tag-will-richard","tag-yurtseven","tag-zaza-pachulia"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116265871143054059","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}