Detroit Pistons aim to continue winning ways in Houston

The Detroit Pistons look to make it three straight wins today in their first game against a a western conference team. If they fail, they’ll get another shot at the Rockets this Friday in Detroit.

The Detroit Pistons split their season series with the Rockets last year. They lost in Houston and won at home, for what it’s worth. However, this is a much different Houston team.

The Pistons are last in the league in field goal percentage and second to last in three-point field goal percentage. The Rockets are shooting just 43 percent from the field as a team.

That makes them second worst in the league in that statistic in front of Detroit. They are 23rd in the league in three-point field goal percentage.

Even though they aren’t going in the way they want, Houston still launches it from outside. They are second in the league in three-point attempts (42) and third in the league in three-point attempts made (14).

This is not the same Rockets team we saw push the Golden State Warriors in the western conference finals.

Chris Paul hasn’t looked like himself. Luc Mbah a Moute and Trevor Ariza have found other homes in the western conference. And we all know how the Carmelo Anthony experiment went.

As noted by our editor Travis Gibbs, the Pistons face a tough stretch in December, and this last stretch of games to end November will be a big factor in how the team is viewed to end the calendar year.

If the Pistons want to be taken seriously in this league, they need to at least split this series with Houston.

While the Rockets are formidable opponents, the Suns, Knicks, and Bulls should all be easily dispatched. After that? It gets tough.

Here’s a look at the month of December for the Detroit Pistons:

Keys to victory

The Pistons need to contain James Harden and Chris Paul. Yes, Paul has been struggling this year, but the Pistons guards have been giving many players their best games of the season thanks to some less than stellar defense.

I think Reggie Bullock on Harden will be serviceable, but if Casey decides to play the Ish Smith/Reggie Jackson two point guard lineup I will be holding my breath.

Another key to a Pistons win tonight is simple: making shots. The Pistons dreadful shooting has to end someday, right?

The battle of big men will be something to watch as well. Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond against Clint Capela and PJ Tucker will be a pair of match-ups to monitor.

Tucker and Capela are considered to be stout defenders. However, Griffin does have a large size advantage over Tucker. If he can take advantage of that discrepancy, we could see another big game for Griffin.