Blake Griffin, Detroit Pistons look to rebound against Houston Rockets
By Joye Pruitt
Blake Griffin and the Detroit Pistons face the Houston Rockets in a rematch Friday night with hopes of toppling the Western Conference contender after dropping Wednesday night’s contest, 124-126.
The Detroit Pistons are not in the business for moral victories. Heck, no NBA team is.
But, Detroit came just close to dropping a strong competitor like Houston and walked away with some vital keys to success for Friday night.
The question is always the same for the Pistons, however. They know their opponent. They have the knowledge. But, can they use that information to knock them off?
The answer is yes.
Not just because the NBA is “Where Amazing Happens”. Blake Griffin‘s offensive output this season, although a sample size, is a problem that teams need to scheme for.
Griffin draws defenders, which leaves his teammates, namely players like Langston Galloway and Reggie Bullock lined up on the outside ready to shoot a clean three-pointer. This gameplan becomes much sweeter when Galloway shoots 4-of-5 from beyond the arc.
It was a positive for the Detroit Pistons that in Wednesday night’s matchup, that they – outside of Blake Griffin’s 9-of-21 field goal-performance – shot 48.4 percent from the floor.
Their ability to space and capitalize on Houston’s mistakes will be a defining characteristic in a win or a loss. The biggest, however, will be Griffin’s match up against PJ Tucker.
Before he was ejected from the game against the Pistons, Tucker kept throwing his body in Griffin’s way, altering his shot selection and even getting an early offensive foul out of the deal against Detroit’s star forward. Even though he already had two fouls under his belt, his intensity never lacked against Griffin.
It’s no coincidence that once Tucker was thrown out of the game after arguing a no-call on what he thought was an illegal pick, Blake Griffin went off.
PJ will not pull any punches in their second go-round. The Houston Rockets will lean on him to keep the same energy as Griffin and the Pistons look to get this train back on its tracks.
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It’s good timing the Detroit Pistons will don Oakland Raiders-esque uniforms tonight in their rematch against the Houston Rockets. Griffin and the Pistons need all the “bad boy” energy they can get.