Vince Ellis

Detroit Free Press

HOUSTON -- The strategy to intentionally foul Detroit Pistons center Andre Drummond to take advantage of his poor foul shooting reached absurd levels Wednesday night at the Toyota Center.

At the start of the second half and the Pistons leading by nine, Houston Rockets interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff instructed his team to foul Drummond repeatedly, putting the Pistons in the penalty just nine seconds into the second half.

But the strategy ultimately backfired as the Pistons (23-19) rolled to a 123-114 victory to take the first of a four-game trip against Western Conference foes – the only team on the trip with a .500 or better record.

No one fouled out for the Rockets, but four players had five fouls and four players had four. Drummond set an NBA record of 23 missed free throws in going 13-for-36, but the rest of the team was 22-for-23. Drummond was 6-for-12 in the fourth quarter.

“It’s sort of a feel thing and when he got going a little bit we left him in,” Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy said. “That’s the game the league wants, so that’s what fans get to watch.”

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope led all five Pistons starters in double figures with 22 points. Marcus Morris had 22 points and Reggie Jackson added 17 points and nine assists. Ersan Ilyasova scored 18.

Drummond finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

“Everybody is going to try to find different ways to win a game, and that happens to be one of them,” Drummond said. “For me, that means I got to step up to the line and shoot.”

Drummond will learn if he's an All-Star starter tonight

James Harden led the Rockets with a triple-double: 33 points, 17 rebounds and 14 assists. Rockets center Dwight Howard left the game early with an ankle injury.

But the spectacle at the start of the second half does make you think the NBA will take a look at the adjusting the rule in the off-season.

“(NBA commissioner) Adam Silver and the league, they’ve decided that’s the way they want to play the game and that’s what they want people to watch,” Van Gundy said. “As long as the fans are OK with watching it, then we’ll continue to play that way.

“At some point the fans might get to the point and say, ‘We’re not going to pay to watch this. We’re going to flip the channels.’

“They haven’t yet. That’s what Adam keeps saying. When they do, then the league will have to make an adjustment.”

The Hack-A-Drum strategy was effective as Drummond was 5-for-16 from the line before being pulled at the 9:22 mark of the third quarter. The Rockets (22-22) surged with all the empty possessions and took a three-point lead at 68-65 a few minutes after Drummond left.

But the Pistons regained control by the end of the third quarter and won going away.

“Trying to win the game,” Bickerstaff said. “It didn’t work. That’s it. That’s all I have to say about that.”

Howard left 55 seconds into the game when he was banged by Drummond. He walked gingerly on an ankle to the locker room and it was announced shortly afterward that he was done for the evening.

Still smarting from the lack of effort in the Chicago Bulls on Monday, the Pistons came out roaring.

Drummond snatched an offensive rebound and found a streaking Jackson for a one-handed dunk to give the Pistons an 18-8 lead at the 5:40 mark of the first quarter.

Harden kept the Rockets in it early, scoring 13 points in the first quarter.

But he was matched by Caldwell-Pope, who ended the quarter with back-to-back three-pointers. The second came at the quarter buzzer and gave him 13 points for the quarter.

The Pistons extended the lead to 14 points at 37-23 on Aron Baynes’ free throws early in the second quarter.

But the bench struggled, and Ty Lawson, starting in place of an injured Patrick Beverly, got going.

He scored 10 points in the quarter, and his pull-up jumper at the 5:32 mark cut the Pistons’ lead to 44-39.

But Jackson’s free throws, a Caldwell-Pope jumper and the Rockets being held scoreless for the last 3:21 allowed the Pistons to take a 56-47 halftime lead.

Contact Vince Ellis at vellis@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @vincent_ellis56. Download our Pistons Xtra app on iTunes or Android!