Houston Rockets thunder past Detroit Pistons 97 – 80 at the Toyota Center - NBA Recap
The Houston Rockets recorded a fine victory over the Detroit Pistons to continue their progress in the 2011-2012 NBA season. The Rockets have had a mixed start to the NBA season with losses and victories coming thick and fast, but have still fared better
than the Detroit Pistons.
Detroit, who were on the losing end in a 97 – 80 score line at the Toyota Center tonight, haven’t had much luck at all so far. The team which is trying to move in a new direction after a nightmare 2010-2011 NBA season has found it tough in the early going
and this loss will do nothing to improve their morale.
The Rockets produced a fine team display to get the win. A total of 6 Houston players made it into double figures. Veteran centre Samuel Dalembert was most impressive with 14 points and 12 rebounds in a double-double effort. Forward Luis Scola also had 14
points, guard Kyle Lowry had 13 points and 5 assists while Kevin Martin scored 11.
Veteran forward Tayshaun Prince was a bright light for the Pistons, leading all scorers with 20 points on the night. Guard Ben Gordon had 18 points, Rodney Stuckey came off the bench for 16 and rookie Brandon Knight collected 15.
The game got off to a fairly even start and the score was 11 – 8 in Houston’s favour near the halfway mark of the first quarter. The Rockets however then went on a scorching 13 – 2 run that took their lead into double figures and the score to 24 – 10. Detroit
recovered somewhat but still trailed at the end of the period, 28 – 20.
A largely unremarkable second quarter saw the pace of the game slow down considerably as both sides went at it with more intensity on defence. The scoring remained even for the two teams and by the end of the first half the score line read 47 – 40 in Houston’s
favour.
After the interval Houston came out with a professional mindset. Although there was a danger of Detroit mounting a comeback run, the Rockets largely kept them at bay and actually outscored them in the third quarter.
Heading into the penultimate round Houston held a distinct advantage and it only got bigger as the Pistons started to unravel. Houston scored a total of 28 points in the period, their highest of any in the game, and wrapped up the match 97 – 80.
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