The Detroit Pistons have improved their roster this summer but how will they match up with the Houston Rockets, who made a splash of their own?
One of the most anticipated matchups of the Detroit Pistons season may be Bruce Brown defending Houston Rockets superstar James Harden.
Last season’s series was entertaining to the final buzzer. Pistons fans will have waited a year from when last year’s series finale concluded in November to this year’s series opener in December.
A series split saw two games that went down to the wire, the first being a 116-114 Rockets win. Harden scored a game-high 43 points, Clint Capela scored 27 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and swatted four shots. Blake Griffin answered with 37 points, 11 rebounds and four assists, which was coupled with a 20-point, 11-rebound performance by Andre Drummond.
However, it wasn’t enough as the bench could put together anything to aid the Pistons’ bigs while Houston received a 20-point, 7-assist performance from Chris Paul.
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Both teams shot the lights out, Houston hitting 55.6 percent from the floor and 39.4 percent from 3-point range. Detroit hit 47.1 percent from the floor and 3-point range.
The Rockets trio again dominated but the Pistons prevailed two days later for a 116-111 overtime win. Harden scored 33 and Capela had a 29-point, 21-rebound performance with Paul scoring 20.
Griffin scored 28 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished four assists. Drummond dominated both ends of the floor with 23 points, 20 rebounds, five blocks and three assists. Reggie Jackson had an impressive 22 points on 12-of-14 free throw shooting with six assists and four rebounds.
Let’s dive in to the 10th of Piston Powered’s preview series, taking a look at how the Pistons stack up against all 29 NBA teams before the season starts.