The Detroit Pistons will be without Jaden Ivey tonight against the Rockets, and Marcus Sasser is listed as doubtful, so they will once again have to get creative in the rotation.
I wouldn’t say JB Bickerstaff gets high marks for his first attempt against the Bulls, as he had some head-scratching lineups on the floor at times.
With both Ivey and Sasser out, there are 10-13 minutes available for a fringe guy, and in the first game those minutes went to Javonte Green, who played 10 minutes, didn’t score, but did log a block and a steal.
Coach Bickerstaff is clearly more comfortable with the veteran at this point and Green is a better and more versatile defender than any of the younger options, but Bickerstaff may have to inject some more offense into the lineup tonight and try to create mismatches against a giant Rockets team.
Detroit Pistons vs. Houston Rockets: Going small against the giants?
The shortest player in the Rockets’ starting five is Amen Thompson, who is 6-foot-7 and everyone else is at least 6-foot-10, so the Pistons will be the smaller team.
Luckily, Kevin Durant and Jabari Smith Jr. are more perimeter-oriented players, so hopefully won’t be able to use their size advantage too much, but the Pistons should be concerned about Tobias Harris and Ron Holland trying to match up with Alperen Sengun, who must be licking his chops right now thinking about these smaller players.
But the Pistons can potentially take advantage of it by going small and creating mismatches of their own. They will have to get stops and get out and run to have a chance, and they should be able to do that, as they are quicker at just about every position. They have to punish the Rockets for going big by pushing the tempo and not letting them set up their defense.
Bickerstaff will once again be tempted to go with Javonte Green, who can guard up, but I’d love to see Daniss Jenkins get a shot to break down the Rockets’ defense, especially when they turn to Reed Sheppard, who looks like a traffic cone on defense so far.
Detroit struggled in the half-court when Cade was on the bench, so even though Green is the better defender, Jenkins may offer more offensively and give the Pistons a matchup advantage.
We’ll see if coach Bickerstaff makes any adjustments from the first game or tries to get in a rhythm with the 9-10 players we saw. If his history is an indicator, it will be the latter, but at some point, he’s going to have to get more creative offensively, and that might include shaking up the rotation.