The game starts with Josh Smith getting booed as soon as he steps onto the court. This would be the beginning of a very energetic crowd tonight, who had a lot of cheering to do for their hometown Pistons who got a remarkable 114 points after getting crushed by the 76ers and held to a season low point total on Wednesday night.
Josh Smith (who ended up with seven points and rebounds) changing sides was hardly the biggest story of the night, however. Dwight Howard was ruled out for the game due to injury. He is a major reason why the Rockets are a defensive powerhouse, allowing only the 12th lowest amount of points in the league per game. James Harden also was out during the second quarter after suffering a minor injury during the game.
The Pistons were led by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who had a great game on offense having 14 points and 3-5 from beyond the arc at the half. He ended up with 28 points, some of which came when Harden was defending him at the 2. DJ Augustin, who's been a very good replacement for Jennings thus far, also tied KCP for the team lead with 28 points, as well as leading the team with 12 assists, resulting in a double-double. He had many solid plays on both sides of the ball, often finding the open man or getting an interception resulting in fast break points. While he isn't Brandon Jennings, he has done extremely well in every game he's played so far with the exception of the Philadelphia game. Nobody should forget about Andre Drummond who continues to be a huge factor every game, getting a game high 16 rebounds for the Pistons. Then, there's Greg Monroe, who also had a double-double with 19 points and 12 boards. The Pistons did all this on an 8-Man Rotation as well, as Augustin, Monroe, Drummond and Kyle Singler all played over 30 minutes, KCP logged 40, Tolliver and Meeks got 20, and rookie Spencer Dinwiddie, the Pistons only pick, a second rounder from Colorado got 10 minutes.
The Rockets were lead by James Harden, who despite not playing as many minutes as he could, still got 26 points, as well as Montiejunas who had 21 points. The only two Rockets who had a plus rating tonight were Isaiah Canaan who played 7 1/2 minutes as +7, and Papanikoulaou who had a +4 in 12 minutes on the floor. James Harden also lead the team in assists with 9, as well as rebounds with 7.
After a very good month of January for the Pistons, they look to start off February just as strong with a good game - the Miami Heat in the Palace on the third. They hope to build on the momentum they've established the last few weeks, and keep piling on the wins in their quest for a playoff birth.
It should also be noted that the three reserves who saw the floor, Anthony Tolliver, Spencer Dinwiddie and Jodie Meeks, combined for only thirteen Field-Goal attempts. Aside from Andre Drummond, every starter played at least 35 minutes tonight."
The Houston Rockets who will have Harden back for the full game, head back home to take on the Derrick Rose-led Chicago Bulls who have once again been a force to be reckoned with in the Eastern Conference. They hope to start another winning streak, after the Pistons snapped a four-game one they have had since January 23rd. They should be getting more clear news on how serious Howard's injury is once they head back to Houston.
These two teams have one more game against each other on March 6th in Houston, in what figures to be a closer, lower scoring game if Dwight Howard can make it back in the lineup for the Rockets. If Howard gets healthy in time to save Houston's playoff hopes, we could be in for a very competitive battle between two teams fighting for a spot in their respective conferences.