Game 18: Houston Rockets At Detroit Pistons Preview
The Houston Rockets exceeded my expectations last night.
With the way they were playing for most of the game, I was thinking that we were on the way to another devastating loss.
But all of a sudden, these Rockets morphed into ones of old, they started hitting their jumpers and the defense was turned up an extra notch.
You can credit Marcus Thornton and Clint Capela as well as Patrick Beverley for their heroics the ensure that this team got the W.
James Harden‘s shot weren’t falling so the Rockets had to do something where the offensive load didn’t rest solely on him.
I’m glad that they figured it out and they got themselves a quality win against a solid team that will likely make the playoffs this year.
So it’s on to the next one.
They will face the 8-9 Detroit Pistons tonight who have lost four of their last five and are hungry for their win.
This team is dangerous because they play stifling defense and rebound the ball quite well.
However, they’ve fallen to last in field goal percentage at 40.8 percent.
A lot of the reason why they’re struggling is because they’re missing Brandon Jennings who still is recovering from an Achilles injury that he sustained back this past January.
It will be a tough test for the Rockets nonetheless and they need to be firing on close to all cylinders to get this win.
Back-to-back wins on the road I might add.
They can do it and if they have the defensive intensity they had late in last night’s game against the New York Knicks, they’ll prevail.
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So who’s leading the charge for the Pistons?
It’s pretty much a two-man crew in terms of the stat leaders for the Pistons.
Reggie Jackson leads the Pistons in scoring (18.4 PPG) and assists (6.1 APG). Andre Drummond is the team’s top-board getter (17.2 RPG), steals (1.80 SPG) and blocks (1.50 BPG). Drummond is currently the league leader in RPG.
Let’s talk about what the Pistons do well.
This team does a lot of things well and they’re a lot better than their record indicates and I see them being a fierce competitor down the road once they have all their pieces together.
They are the defensive juggernauts. The Pistons are ranked 8th in the NBA in defensive efficiency, holding opponents to just 98.8 points per 100 possessions.
The attack the boards ferociously. The Pistons are 7th in rebound rate, snagging a whopping 51.7 percent of missed shots.
They take care of the basketball. The Pistons are 3rd in the league in turnover ratio with just a measly 12.6 percent of their total possessions ending in a turnover.
Injuries:
Donatas Motiejunas will be making a return to the court soon, there’s no timetable that has been set but he’s doing more-and-more everyday. J.B. Bickerstaff said that he’s doing one-on-one drills and he is “salivating” for the day when he can get back into the lineup.
Sam Dekker had back surgery last week and is expected to miss about three months.
Spencer Dinwiddie continues to be day-to-day with a knee injury and has been out for the past three games.
Sources: Jenny Dial Creech/Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle and Keith Langlois of Pistons.com.
Three Things to Watch:
- Dwight Howard vs. Drummond
- Harden vs. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
- Beverley vs. Jackson
Prediction:
103-100 in a Rockets’ win!
The Rockets look to complete their second game in a back-to-back to take on the Pistons at the Palace of Auburn Hills.
Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CST.
The game will be televised on ROOT Sports Southwest and broadcast on SportsTalk 790 AM (KBME) and La Ranchera 850 AM (KEYH) in Spanish.
Go Rockets!
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