![\"Detroit](\"https:\/\/platform.detroitbadboys.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/75\/chorus\/uploads\/chorus_asset\/file\/25947419\/2193795390.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,0.0080945442771565,100,99.983810911446\")
<\/a><\/p>\nPhoto by Dustin Satloff\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
First 5,000 using the code SBNFALL30 get a free monthNever miss a Pistons game. Stream all season long with FanDuel Sports Network<\/p>\n
Houston is also 0-1, but a double OT loss to the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder is different than a deflated effort against the play-in mainstay Bulls. It counts the same in the record book, but the process of anything is as important as the results. Forming consistent winning habits against a team with Kevin Durant and Alperen \u015eeng\u00fcn is paramount.<\/p>\n
Nikola Vucevic had his way against Detroit. He torched the Pistons from range and dropped off soft touch floaters when it was time to mix it up. Coming into the season, the Rockets game wasn\u2019t circled on the calendar as a stretch big game, but \u015eeng\u00fcn may alter that thought process this year.<\/p>\n
\u015eeng\u00fcn was 5-of-8 from 3 on his way to 39 points in the Rockets\u2019 opening loss. His willingness to take those shots will stretch defenses if he can maintain any type of real consistency. Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart have their hands full with the Rockets\u2019 point center.<\/p>\n
While \u015eeng\u00fcn brings the ball up and plays the de facto point guard role for the Rockets, Amen is their actual starting point guard in name. He was pretty good overall in the opener. Amen did a lot of the all-around dirty work stuff that Ausar did, too.<\/p>\n
More Point Ausar minutes are on the horizon as the Pistons lack a true initiator after Cade. The non-Cade minutes were kind of clunky at times, but seeing what Ausar and Ron Holland are in those minutes is vital, and could pay off at the end of the season. There are real expectations for Detroit to be good, but figuring out the value of every core member is just as important.<\/p>\n
Duncan Robinson isn\u2019t part of the long-term core, but he can\u2019t put up two-point stinkers. Teams still stay attached to him when he\u2019s not shooting with confidence, but the Pistons just lost Malik Beasley, who had the greatest 3-point shooting season in Pistons history; they need the production from Duncan.<\/p>\n
Kevin Durant is as productive as they come, though I breezed over his name previously. He adds some go-to shotmaking to a Rockets offense that needed someone who could consistently create off the bounce.<\/p>\n
Durant wasn\u2019t his usual high-20s scoring self vs a suffocating OKC defense in his Rockets debut. His breakout is coming, but it doesn\u2019t have to be this spot.<\/p>\n
Defense drove the Pistons to the sixth seed last year. The effort on that side of the floor needs to be replicated if Detroit wants to accomplish its goals.<\/p>\n
In addition to their fourth quarter offensive surge vs the Bulls, the defense in that period was a step above the rest of the game, too. Carry that momentum over to the Rockets game, actually punch them first, and see where that lands you in game 2 of 82.<\/p>\n
Cade Cunningham, Duncan Robinson, Ausar Thompson, Tobias Harris, Jalen Duren<\/p>\n
Amen Thompson, Kevin Durant, Jabari Smith Jr., Alperen \u015eeng\u00fcn, Steven Adams<\/p>\n
How would you define a successful Ron Holland season?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Detroit Pistons can only blame themselves for their snail-start in their season-opening loss against the Chicago Bulls.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3773],"tags":[7,296,188,52275,3860,6,297,53269],"class_list":{"0":"post-363784","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-pistons","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-detroit","10":"tag-detroit-pistons","11":"tag-detroit-pistons-game-day","12":"tag-detroitpistons","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-pistons","15":"tag-pistons-previews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115429638767518911","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}