The Detroit Pistons picked up their first win of the season Friday night in Houston while going deep into their rotation. The Pistons were forced to expand their rotation due to injuries and notable foul trouble for key players. Through two games, Detroit has struggled with foul trouble in both and it’s becoming a major weakness for them.
Fouls are hurting an already depleted team
In this game, it was especially important for the Pistons to keep their fouls in check. They were already missing three key rotation players - Jaden Ivey, Marcus Sasser and Caris LeVert - to injuries. Then they had Jalen Duren get ejected for a flagrant 2 offensive foul in the second quarter.
Already short on depth, the Pistons were in desperate need of available bodies elsewhere. And yet they saw a flurry of foul trouble from important players. It forced coach JB Bickerstaff to make some tough calls, which fortunately paid off this time, but are not a sustainable way to win games.
In total, the Pistons had 31 team fouls. It led to the Rockets shooting the most free throws (48) that they've had in a game since 2017. The officiating was definitely strict in general, as the Rockets were also called for 24 fouls and there were multiple reviews for flagrants. But the Pistons need to do a better job of adapting to how the referees are calling the game.
The timing of the Pistons' fouls was especially terrible. Starting from the opening minute, Ausar Thompson got himself in early trouble with 2 fouls in the first 90 seconds of playing time. His substitution, Ron Holland II, did him one better with 3 more individual fouls in the first quarter. And superstar Cade Cunningham also added 2 fouls of his own in the opening period.
The Pistons were always going to have a hard time finding consistent offense against a fearsome Rockets defense, and foul trouble to their best ball handlers only made it worse. Sometimes, individual players need to understand that their personal value goes above the competitive advantage of stopping a given play at the cost of a personal foul, especially when the team is already short on warm bodies.
Both Isaiah Stewart and Ron Holland, who are known for their impassioned physical play and were so important in the season opener, fouled out of this game with a lot of playing time left. Holland received his sixth foul with 7:34 left in the fourth and Stewart got his with 5:37 remaining. This left the Pistons with pitiful depth heading into the final stretches of a very tight game.
The Pistons are tied for the second-most fouls per game in the young NBA season. The two teams that are either tied with or above them - the Thunder and Pacers - have only played double-overtime games so far. Committing so many fouls has thrown off substitution patterns, given up free points, and killed the opportunity for fastbreak runouts. It's quickly becoming the Pistons' biggest problem and something that needs to be fixed immediately, especially among the team's most important players.