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It’s a short preview today because I’m lazy.
Make this five games in a row where the Rockets are taking on a team coming off a loss. The Pistons are actually on a 3-game losing streak, but are 5-1 at home this season. They are dealing with an injury to Reggie Jackson, but he’ll be returning shortly. In the meantime, they’ll depend on Andre Drummond, Marcus Morris, and Tobias Harris to carry the load offensively, with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope as their primary wing scorer.
The Pistons have a ton of size and that will test the Rockets’ relatively small frontcourt. Houston has had issues at times with teams that get big with them, and Detroit can bring Jon Leuer and Aron Baynes off the bench to get even taller.
For the Rockets to win tonight, they will have to rebound as a team to prevent the Pistons from grabbing a ton of offensive rebounds, as well as push the pace. Detroit is in the top 10 in defensive efficiency and in the bottom 10 in pace. The Pistons aren’t known as a grind-it-out team like the Grizzlies, but they definitely want a slower game. Houston showed that they can fight through that in their win over the Jazz. Now they will have to go on the road and try to accomplish that feat.
Tip-off is at 6:30pm CT.