The Golden State Warriors began a four-game road trip with a visit to the red-hot Detroit Pistons team on Thursday night. With the Dubs coming off back-to-back lopsided home losses early Saturday morning that left them with about as much energy as a college kid, it was fair to wonder what kind of team would emerge: another lifeless one or a spirited one and spirited team inspired team.

Luckily it was the latter. Despite playing without Andrew Wiggins, Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody, Brandin Podziemski and Gary Payton II, the Warriors played impressively and full of life, leaving Detroit with a 107-104 victory…and another winning record.

However, it didn’t start well. After Buddy Hield – who started in place of Wiggins – scored on the first possession, the Warriors went on a 12-2 run. The Warriors responded with exceptional defense led by Draymond Green, but struggled to score. They managed to answer with a 6-0 run, but Detroit called a timeout and responded with a 5-0 run of their own.

Interestingly enough, the Warriors were all about the paint early in the game. They got the first 14 points with difficulty and missed the first six three-point attempts. It wasn’t until Gui Santos, who was forced into big action due to the team’s undermanning, scored a three-pointer with about four minutes left that the Dubs managed to get a shot from distance. That was part of a 15-5 run that gave the Warriors the lead, sparked by Santos and Trayce Jackson-Davis. The quarter ended in a difficult affair, with the Warriors leading narrowly, 25-23.

The Warriors only had one three-pointer in the first quarter, but came out on top in the second quarter. Steph Curry made a three-pointer on the first possession and Santos made one on the second possession. The threes kept coming, and a few possessions later a Hield three made the score 37-28 and forced a Pistons timeout.

Golden State played very hard, which was a sight to behold, even if the execution wasn’t great. But the execution Was great for Santos, who had a breakout game. Santos did it all: three-point shots, extra passes, steals, chasing rebounds and loose balls, drawing attacks and getting the team going. In one sequence, he made a three-pointer at one end of the court and mounted a charge at the other end that led to a three-pointer from Lindy Waters III, extending the lead to 13 points with about five minutes left. A 16-2 run by these two players gave them a 53-35 lead with just a few minutes left, but then they started to leak the oil. Detroit fought back and the lead was just 10 points at halftime.

The third quarter got off to another strong start. Hield had the first eight points for the Dubs, who used a 13-6 run to take a 70-53 lead and force a timeout. But the Pistons responded with an 11-0 run, showing they weren’t going anywhere. It became a frenzy again, with Detroit constantly threatening. Kevon Looney, who saw a lot of the action, helped the Warriors stay in the game, but Detroit got closer. At the start of the fourth quarter the lead was 82:74.

From then on, Detroit continued to assert itself and quickly got within four points. A few minutes later there was a scuffle with double techs against Dennis Schröder and Isaiah Stewart. Kelenna Azubuike noted on the broadcast that we would find out which team was excited about this, and the answer was the Warriors. They went on a 10-0 run and eventually extended the lead back to 18 points. It seemed like they were headed for a win, but the hard-charging Pistons team had other ideas.

Detroit responded with a 10-0 run of its own as Cade Cunningham began to absolutely dominate. The momentum changed and you could feel the Dubs’ panic.

The Pistons cut the lead to just four points with 1:15 left, but Schröder responded with a basket. Cunningham responded, as he had done throughout the quarter, with two free throws, both made with just under a minute left, which increased the lead back to four points.

Golden State responded with a bittersweet possession, taking 23 seconds but ultimately turning the ball over. Detroit responded with a bittersweet possession of its own, with Malik Beasley driving down the lane and scoring an uncontested dunk, but only after the team missed a chance at a two-on-one.

That meant we went to foul play. The Warriors did a good job on defense and got the ball to Curry, who was fouled after 14.6 seconds and did both, increasing the lead back to four. They fouled Cunningham with 11.3 seconds left and after he made the first free throw, he missed the second. Santos – in the final lineup – grabbed the rebound and was fouled, leading to his third and fourth free throws of the season.

He managed the first one calmly and extended the lead back to four points, but he missed the second one. On the next play, Schröder made a bad play and fouled Cunningham, who made the first free throw. Then Detroit made a good old-fashioned targeted miss, and chaos ensued.

Cunningham threw the ball up the backboard, got his own rebound and immediately distributed it, allowing the Pistons to score a game-winning three-point attempt. But the officiating team ruled that Cunningham’s “shot” did not hit the rim, which constitutes a violation. They went to the retest where they discovered that the ball had hit the rim. Detroit would put the ball in play with three downs with 4.1 seconds left.

The bad break for the Pistons turned into a good break when their ATO delivered a wide open three-pointer for Beasley. But they couldn’t capitalize on the Warriors’ poor defense, as Beasley missed the triple and the Warriors escaped with a 107-104 win.

Hield led the Warriors with 19 points, while Curry (17 points and 10 rebounds) and Jackson-Davis (14 points and 10 rebounds) both added double-doubles. But Santos was the Dubs’ winning formula as he finished with 13 points on just 4-for-6 shooting with five rebounds, three assists and two steals. He did have four turnovers, but most of them were due to him not being quite on the same page as his teammates, with whom he doesn’t often share the court. And his defense was great.

The Warriors have a 19-18 record on the year and will look to improve on that tomorrow night when they visit the Indiana Pacers at 4:00 PM PT.