Detroit Pistons follow poor effort with stellar one. Draymond Green took notice.

Half their rotation was sick or on the bench and before anyone jumps in with “That’s Not An Excuse!!” allow me to retort: Of course it is.

There's an absolutely legitimate reason the Detroit Pistons lost to the Golden State Warriors, 120-109, on Monday night at Little Caesars Arena.

Despite missing Jalen Duren, Jaden Ivey, Alec Burks and Joe Harris, plus three rotational pieces who have yet to suit up this season — Bojan Bogdanovic, Monte Morris and Isaiah Livers — the Pistons were within two points of the Warriors with 4½ minutes to play.

Then Steph Curry hit a step-back jumper and a couple free throws and that, more or less, was it. So, sure, knock 'em for losing to a Western Conference contender. And knock 'em for fouling a little too often — again — and for not boxing out — the Warriors had 17 more shots.

Just know that head coach Monty Williams won’t. And never will when the effort looks like this.

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“It was hard for me to even bring that up with the guys because we competed so hard tonight,” WIlliams said of the Warriors’ second-chance points. “Totally different effort and disposition than (Sunday) … I’m so proud of the way we competed tonight with all these guys out.”

He wasn’t so proud Sunday. Not after his team got outworked and out-toughed by the Phoenix Suns (not known for their toughness), who themselves were missing two of their best players (Devin Booker and Bradley Beal).

Win or lose, Williams said Sunday, “we have to play with a purpose.”

The Pistons began the season with energy and intent, if not enough shooting, and grinded out a couple of wins following a hard-fought opening-night loss in Miami. No one expected them to keep up the two-to-one ratio of wins to losses — that's a 55-win pace — but the drop off in effort after the 2-1 start was startling.

The Oct. 30 loss to the Thunder in Oklahoma City wasn’t the worst loss; the Pistons just didn’t hit shots. Still, their competitive edge was a bit dulled.

Two nights later, however? The edge was, well, blunt, with an 18-point lead blown in the second half on Nov. 1 against Portland back home. A Nov. 2 road loss to the Pelicans? Blah. And Sunday's loss to the Suns was worse. By the time Williams hit the LCA media room for his postgame news conference, he was audibly frustrated, and already talking about lost identity.

That's hardly a good sign for a team whose margin for error is as slim as any team’s in the league. More troubling for a team that’s missing so many of its rotational pieces.

Yeah, the injuries make it harder to win. But injuries should never make it harder to compete.

“It's something that we're dealing with right now,” Williams said Sunday after the Phoenix loss. “Understanding how hard it is to win in this league. We show flashes. We're not showing consistency. And that's something that we have to work on."

Those are tough words to hear for a franchise churning in the muck for so long. Tougher still that they’re coming from the mouth of coach less than 10 games into his tenure.

Because more than anything, the Pistons fan base wants to see a team that plays with purpose, that shows on the court what general manager Troy Weaver has been preaching the last four years — that all the talk of “restoration” and “roots” will eventually mean something.

To see the dispirited effort after the 2-1 start was, well, dispiriting.

“We have to go out there and play with the identity that we started the season with,” Williams said.

If you’re looking for a sliver of light, it’s that the Pistons did show the makings of an identity the first three games of the season. And if you’re being generous, you’d notice that part of the identity is Duren, and the leap he appeared to have taken from his rookie season — he averaged 18 points, 15.3 rebounds and 2.7 blocks over those first three games.

Before the big fella turned his ankle, he anchored the back line of the defense with near menace. And though he had only missed one game before Monday night against Golden State, he didn’t look the same. Against the Thunder, Pelicans and Suns, he averaged just 10.7, 7.7, and zero, respectively.

So, yes, his absence — and diminished state when he tried to play — matters. Without his bouncy and beefy presence, the defense sagged.

But, again, Duren’s injury doesn’t excuse the lack of purpose. So, Williams pointedly talked about purpose with his team Sunday evening and again Monday before the Warriors arrived.

He knows that rebuilding this thing begins there. Knows, too, that teams don’t get through an NBA season without missing players, and while missing players affects wins and losses, it can never affect the spirit.

Against the Warriors, down seven guys, the Pistons showed they’d been listening to their coach. They made shots, yes, and that always makes everything else look better. But even when they weren’t, they were rotating and fighting through screens and keeping their heads up when Curry blasted away from everywhere.

Golden State’s superstar guard dropped 16 points in the first eight minutes and still, the Pistons were down just four. They hadn’t given in to the light show, unlike when Kevin Durant torched them for 41 the day before.

Growth?

Yeah, why not, it’s incremental in this stage anyway. All losses aren’t the same, which is why Williams was proud Monday night some 24 hours after he was so disappointed.

“As far as toughness goes, it was totally different than last night,” said Williams.

This was evident to anyone in the building, including a player on the other team who knows a little something about toughness.

“They played us super tough tonight with half of their team out,” said Draymond Green, the Saginaw and Michigan State star who played his way into the 2017 NBA Defensive Player of the Year. “It's the next-guy-up mentality, and when you start to see teams with the next-guy-up mentality, you’re starting to see a team that’s ready to take a step.”

What step is hard to say. This is where the injuries cloud the view. But it's reasonable to expect the returns of the vets — Bogdanovic and Morris — and the kids — Duren and Ivey — will increase the margins a bit and give Williams more ingredients to mix.

And that as long as the purpose and spirit are there, this team will have a chance to grow. Even without the full roster, the Pistons played Monday night as they did to open the season, and a former Michigander — and Spartan — couldn't help but notice.

Green saw it up close, and he swears it looked a little familiar.

“They're starting back to getting 'Detroit Pistons guys,' ” he said. “Look at (Ausar) Thompson, Stewie (Isaiah Stewart), Jalen Duren, Marcus Sasser, Cade (Cunningham) … you’re starting to see it in their play.”

The next step is to see it more often.

Contact Shawn Windsor: 313-222-6487 or swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him @shawnwindsor.

Next up: Bucks

Matchup: Pistons (2-6) at Milwaukee (4-2).

Tipoff: 8 p.m. Wednesday; Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee.

TV/radio: Bally Sports Detroit; WXYT-FM (97.1).

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Pistons worked hard vs. the Warriors & Draymond Green noticed