HOUSTON — Detroit Pistons center Jalen Duren was in the middle of his postgame cool-down workout in the underbelly of the Toyota Center at halftime, while the rest of his team was preparing to take the floor for the final 24 minutes of their game against the Houston Rockets.
That was because of a second-quarter ejection. Duren received a Flagrant Foul, Penalty 2 with 6:29 remaining in the first half for an elbow to the face of his teammate’s twin, Houston forward Amen Thompson.
Duren lifted his jersey, with Detroit across his chest, high as he entered the tunnel surrounded by Pistons security.
After his ejection, Detroit overcame his absence and two rotation players — Ron Holland II and Isaiah Stewart — fouling out to beat the Rockets 115-111 on the road in a physical game to earn its first win of the season. It was a contentious contest from its inception, resulting in 15 lead changes, 12 ties and a multitude of technical fouls, including Pistons assistant coach Jarrett Jack and Houston assistant coach Royal Ivey.
Friday’s win marked J.B. Bickerstaff’s 300th as a head coach. Not only did he become the 78th coach in NBA history to reach the feat, he and his father — Bernie Bickerstaff, who’s now in an advisory role with Detroit — became the first father-son duo to each notch at least 300 victories at the helm of a team.
While Duren didn’t speak after the game ended, Bickerstaff believed his team lived up to its motto of “controlling chaos.”
“That’s what you saw out there on the floor,” Bickerstaff said. “Last year, there were times where things got a little muddy, and we let our emotions get the best of us. Tonight, I thought we did a phenomenal job. When things got messy, we didn’t back down, we didn’t shy away. But we kept our composure.”
FULL MOMENT: Jalen Duren shoves Amen Thompson then elbows him in face and gets ejected pic.twitter.com/b4WiVXlY5J
— NBAbzy (@nbabzyy) October 25, 2025
The Pistons were whistled for 31 fouls, resulting in 48 Houston free-throw attempts, and still found a way to spoil the Rockets’ home opener. Houston’s Kevin Durant dropped 37 points, with 16 coming at the charity stripe, but no other player on Houston’s roster scored more than 17. Rockets big man Alperen Şengün was limited to 5-of-18 shooting after a strong season opener in Oklahoma City.
Detroit will now fly back to Michigan for a home opener with momentum from rallying during the second game of its brief road trip. It was a win indicative of how the Pistons hope to compete all season long.
“That’s our identity,” Cunningham said of his team’s physicality as he sat at his locker. “We knew tonight was going to be a dogfight because of that. We knew they wanted to play physical as well. So, you’ve got to be ready coming into games like that, and it (was) a great win for us.”
Cunningham led Detroit with a team-high 21 points on 7-of-16 from the field, 3-of-8 from 3-point range, nine assists, seven rebounds, a block and eight turnovers. The Texas native has yet to look like the best version of himself, but he still helped propel his team late.
Apart from Cunningham, it was a group effort for the Pistons, with four other players scoring in double figures. Ausar Thompson notched a season-high 19 points to go along with four assists. He also nailed his first 3 of the year and was aggressive from the opening tip. He did a solid job of making Houston pay by finding creases in its zone defense when sagging off him.
Duncan Robinson added 17 points and did his best to shoot Houston out of its zone, sinking half of his eight attempts from long range. It was his best game as a Piston thus far.
Paul Reed narrowly missed a double-double with 13 points, nine rebounds and two blocks, stepping up in Duren and Stewart’s absence to play a meaningful 19 minutes. Reed’s defensive stand on Şengün with the game on the line was his most impressive possession of the night.
He hedged on a Şengün screen to keep Durant from getting downhill, recovered as Durant dished the ball off to a diving Şengün, nearly knocked the ball away from Şengün, then met the Turkish big man at the summit for a block to prevent a potential game-tying floater.
Reed stared down Detroit’s bench as his teammates met him with enthusiasm, while Cunningham went the other way in transition.
“It’s definitely a momentum booster for us, definitely a confidence booster,” Reed said from his locker with sweat still dripping from his forehead. “I feel like after a night like this, everyone is going to come together even more and have each other’s backs even more than we did before.”
Robinson was in lock step with his teammates and head coach postgame about the grit they displayed being the driving force behind the victory.
“We’ve been talking about trying to control that chaos since the first meeting we had as a group,” Robinson said. “The way we play, with physicality and intensity, there’s going to be some games that flare up like that. I thought we showed a lot of resolve, a lot of maturity to dial it back in and find a way to win.
“NBA games are a lot about winning skirmishes. … That’s something I’ve recognized in my time. There’s always these four-, five-, six-minute stretches, and if you can win more than the other team, you’ve got a good chance to win the game.”
Bickerstaff was a presence throughout the evening, reminding his players to keep their heads. Despite Duren’s ejection and Stewart and Holland fouling out, his team looked far more cohesive in Friday night’s win than in Wednesday’s loss to the Chicago Bulls. The Pistons were also without Caris LeVert, who was sidelined with left hamstring tightness, and Marcus Sasser, another Texas native, who has yet to make his season debut because of a right hip impingement.
“It’s great for us, to be honest with you,” Bickerstaff said. “To beat a good team on their floor in a game that played the style we want to play — we want to play a physical game, we want to play a rough and tumble game out there — so to match that with this team, who does it at a high level, and to be able to come out with a win was great for us.”
