The Houston Rockets and the Detroit Pistons know each other well. They spent years together, sharing the bottom of the NBA standings. Last season, the Rockets made a big coaching hire, used huge offseason spending to add veterans to their roster, and they finished with a .500 record and a lot of hope and enthusiasm about things to come. Last season, the Pistons made a big coaching hire, used offseason spending to add veterans to their roster, and finished with the worst record in franchise history. The two paths, as they say, diverged. This year, both franchises are looking for their fifth win in seven games. I’m not sure how great Houston is as a team, but they do sport wins against the Knicks and Mavericks and an overtime loss to the Warriors.
Game Vitals
When: 3 p.m. ET
Where: Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, Michigan
Watch: Fan Duel Sports Network Detroit
Odds: Pistons +3.5
Analysis
Cade Cunningham has netted three consecutive triple-doubles for Detroit, and has led Detroit to one convincing victory over the Lakers, one crushing defeat to the Hornets, and one win that could have been a blown game to the Hawks. I was only able to catch up to the Hawks game on Saturday morning after reading enough online discourse to steel myself for another secretly bad Cade performance. Honestly, though, I think his game against the Hawks was the best of his three triple-doubles. Certainly, it was better than his game against the Hornets.
Against Charlotte, Cade seemed to find early success driving to the rim going against a no-bigs lineup. So much success, in fact, he kept forcing the issue even when the driving lane wasn’t there. He put up terrible shot after terrible shot and refused to adjust. Against the Hawks, his early shots weren’t falling, but they were pretty solidly good decisions. Only one of his passes was a true inexplicable pass to nowhere. But going against the defense of Dyson Daniels, one of the league leader’s in steals and better man defenders in the NBA is no easy feat.
Cunningham’s second-half performance was actually pretty great. Perhaps people remember that poor pass or the unfortunate turnover with 50 seconds left when he saw a streaking teammate with no defenders in front of him and the 50-foot bounce pass couldn’t be completed. I didn’t mind the latter.
Anyway, I guess it is time to talk about the actual matchup against the Rockets. Of course, there will be some juicy Jalen Green vs. Cunningham storylines. There always will be. Green’s perimeter shooting has ticked up, but he still leaves way too much to be desired inside the arc. This season, Green is shooting 42% on twos, and averaging nearly as many turnovers as assists.
So what makes the Rockets dangerous? Defense. Houston surrenders the least amount of points in the paint in the NBA, and are also one of the best at driving opponents off the 3-point line. They don’t let you get easy points on the break. They also force a lot of turnovers. In short, they make everything difficult. The Pistons will need to have to limit their mistakes to stay in this game.
Projected Lineups
Detroit Pistons (4-6)
Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, Tim Hardaway Jr., Tobias Harris, Isaiah Stewart
Houston Rockets (5-4)
Fred VanVleet, Jalen Green, DIllon Brooks, Jabari Smith, Alperen Sengun
Question of the Game
If you could steal one player from the Rockets and add him to the Pistons (in a reasonable deal), who would you target?