3 takeaways from the Detroit Pistons 115-107 win over the Houston Rockets

The Detroit Pistons defeated the Houston Rockets 115-107 in what was easily their best performance of the season without their two stars on the floor.

The final score is not indicative of how this game went. The Detroit Pistons beat the Rockets at their own game – dominating in transition and raining down three-pointers. For a large majority of the game, Detroit also held the advantage in a significant free throw attempt disparity.

With Andre Drummond sitting out tonight with the lingering eye problems from the allergic reaction he had to an avocado, and Blake Griffin sitting out the second half with knee soreness, the Pistons core stepped up. Bruce Brown‘s defense on James Harden was paramount in the victory.

A glance at the box score will show you that Harden scored 39 points, but it took 33 shots and a large majority of his points – upwards of 90 percent of them – came when he was defended by someone not named Bruce Brown. Harden’s body language became increasingly worse and worse as the game progressed, largely due to Brown’s peskiness on defense.

Brown forced Harden into a lot of passing situations – which did admittedly lead to him recording 7 assists, most of which were lobs to Clint Capela. Brown was also able to make an impact on offense, scoring 16 points on 66 percent shooting to go along with 10 rebounds and 6 assists and 4 steals.

This was the Pistons best win of the season, and Brown’s performance was only the beginning. This was an exceptional team performance in a game whose conclusion seemed predetermined.