Caldwell-Pope scores 22 as Pistons beat Rockets 123-114

Not only did McDaniels repeatedly intentionally foul him, but he also did it five times in an incredible nine seconds. He made four of 10 free throws in that stretch and Morris added four points to keep the Pistons ahead 107-94.

“Anything for my teammates”.

“It wasn’t a chess match, it was just they wanted to foul and we let them foul”, Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy said.

The Pistons led at halftime, but the Rockets’ strategy worked as they managed to snatch the lead within 3 minutes by repeatedly fouling Drummond on every possession. So Bickerstaff made a decision to foul Drummond, a 35 percent foul shooter coming in. The Pistons were coerced to remove Drummond from the game.

FREE THROW – Houston built its roster and installed its offense to fully exploit the inherent advantage of taking 3-point shots as opposed to jump shots inside the arc.

Houston was playing without starting point guard Patrick Beverley, who was out with an ankle injury, and lost Howard one minute into the game with a sprained ankle.

“That’s the game the league wants, so that’s what fans get to watch”, Van Gundy said. However, not much later, they went back to it. This time he missed four in a row and was replaced by Aron Baynes.

“We won the game today….I’m not going to miss them all”, he said. But neither team is hitting those shots as often as they’d expected this season, the Pistons 23rd in 3-point percentage (.335) and Houston 17th (.348).

The Rockets opened the second half by intentionally fouling Drummond.

Drummond was able to keep Howard out of the game, as the Rockets center finished with just eight points and 10 rebounds.

When Drummond was taken out with 5:32 to play in the fourth quarter, the Rockets trailed by 13. Reggie Jackson would score 17 points on 7-for-15 shooting to go with nine assists and five rebounds.

Houston grabbed its first lead at 62-61 on forward Clint Capela’s hook shot but it was short-lived.

Ty Lawson started in place of Beverley for his first start since November 16. Drummond finished 13 of 36, smashing the franchise record for attempts in a game, which was held by George Yardley and Walter Dukes with 24, and was three off the National Basketball Association record held by Dwight Howard.

Kings 112, Lakers 93: DeMarcus Cousins had 36 points and 16 rebounds to help Sacramento earn a sixth consecutive victory over Los Angeles.