The Detroit Pistons faced a familiar defensive strategy on Friday night, but it still spelled trouble for Cade Cunningham
On Friday night, Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham made his triumphant return to the starting lineup after missing two games due to illness and wrist injury. But even with the Pistons’ All-Star starter in the rotation once again, Detroit’s first unit struggled to find a rhythm against a physical Houston defense, and Cunningham in particular was a source of struggle for Detroit in their 111-104 loss.
From a tactical standpoint, the Rockets opted to apply heavy pressure to Cunningham at every opportunity possible. Since the Pistons’ offense is predicated on the pick and roll, the Rockets worked to stick with Cade in the second stage of that action to clog his angle for an outlet pass or for a shot.
As a shooter, Cunningham finished the game with just 12 points on a sub-par five-for-13 effort from field goal range, well below Cade’s regular season average of nearly 26 points per game. In essence, the Rockets smothering tendency to hit Cunningham with double teams worked to disrupt Detroit’s floor general in his first on-court appearance in three games.
“It’s on whoever the screener is,” Duren said after the game. “Whether it be myself, AT or whoever to understand that they're hot on him, they’re doubling him and get open and give him outlets so he's not on the island by himself just trying to make tough passes with two bodies on him. So, like I said, we just gotta be better. That's the thing. It's not the first time teams have done that.”
Since Houston decided to pack the paint in these situations, the Rockets effectively neutered Cunningham’s full offensive impact in a scorer during a game that really could have used his influence down the stretch from Detroit’s perspective.
As for Duren, the All-Star hopeful checked in as the Pistons’ leading scorer with 18 points and seven rebounds, but JD was even unhappy with his own effort in a cross-conference battle that was up for the taking down the stretch.
“We have to come in from the jump and find our own energy, get a little pep in our step,” Duren said. “They played last night, had an overtime game that we knew about, so it’s on us. We’ll be better.”
On the court, the Rockets brought a physical, aggressive style of play into the game in a fashion that mimicked what the Pistons have done for much of the regular season. Both teams forced 17 turnovers on the night, and the Rockets were able to stay within single-digits of the Pistons in terms of scoring in the paint.
So, just as Ausar Thompson saw a familiar face on the floor in his brother Amen, the Pistons saw a similar style of play from the visiting Houston squad. Styles make fights, and the Rockets escaped with a narrow victory on Friday night to even up the season series with one win apiece.
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