Detroit handles No. 2 team in the west on its home floor
If the Detroit Pistons ’ current five-game road trip will ultimately define their season, they couldn’t have asked for a better start. Coming off of consecutive losses for the first time in more than a month, the Pistons handled their business on the road against the Houston Rockets 107-96.
The Pistons won courtesy of a dominant third quarter from Cade Cunningham, who scored 19 of his 32 points in the period and allowed Detroit to turn a game that was tied at halftime into a 10-point lead going into the final quarter.
Also showing out strong for the Pistons was Jalen Duren, who had struggled to make an impact in Detroit’s past few games. Against the Rockets, Duren was able to avoid foul trouble and made his presence felt. He was perfect from the floor (8-of-8 for 16 points) and dominant on the boards (14) while also securing four steals. He was getting every tough board inside and helped set Detroit’s physical tone.
The Pistons were able to dominate the boards (+13), points in the paint (+10), and fastbreak points (28-17).
Ausar Thompson also got his first victory over his twin brother Amen. Ausar still allows himself to get sped up when he’s trying to handle the ball, but he scored 11 points to go with nine rebounds and a block.
It felt like either side could take complete control of the game if only they could control their turnover issues. Neither side could manage. The Pistons had 22 turnovers, while Houston had 16. Detroit was able to weather the storm because they stayed even in second-chance points thanks to their effectiveness in transition and their commitment to playing defense all the way down the floor. Oh yeah, they also had the best player on the floor — Cade Cunningham.
After a few poor shooting performances, Cunningham scored 32 points by going 12-of-22 from the floor and hitting three of his five 3-pointers. Cade did have 10 turnovers, but no player on either side could seem to take care of the basketball. We’ll blame it on the early MLK Day start time of 1 p.m. central time.
The defining time of the game, though, might have been the moments in the second half when Cade wasn’t on the floor. After playing heavy minutes in the third, Cade capped the quarter with a stepback jumper as time expired to put the Pistons up 10.
Then he sat for his standard rest. Non-Cade minutes have been extremely inconsistent since Jaden Ivey was lost to a fractured fibula. The team doesn’t have a traditional point guard on the bench, and second-year player Marcus Sasser is being thrust into the role to some questionable results.
Over the next five and a half minutes of the fourth quarter, the Pistons were able actually pad the lead from 10 to 11 thanks to some solid scoring from Sasser and solid all-around defense from the Pistons on the floor.
Any five-minute stretch where the Pistons can maintain a lead with Cade on the bench is a huge win for this team.
The Pistons will next travel to Atlanta to play the sixth-seeded Hawks on Wednesday.