Game preview: OKC Thunder begin 3 game road trip looking to end Detroit win streak

Defense – Owning the glass, paint and miscellaneous areas:

The top ranked Thunder defense will have their hands full facing the eighth ranked Pistons defense. Areas the Pistons excel at are perimeter defense (not like the Thunder will be looking to shoot lights out from deep — hopefully) where they rank first.

However, there are key areas to exploit against Detroit. As much as Andre Drummond will beast on the boards the paint offers a real opportunity for OKC to exploit.

In fact, in each of the key miscellaneous categories the Thunder rank ahead of the Pistons in production, but the Pistons excel in many defensive areas (see note at bottom) :

Points scored off turnovers:

• Thunder: 21.4 ranks first
• Pistons: 17.9 ranks 11th

Points allowed off turnovers:

• Thunder: 15.0 ranks fifth
• Pistons: 14.7 ranks third

Points in the paint scored:

• Thunder: 51.4 ranks eighth
• Pistons: 49.8 ranks ninth

Points in the paint allowed:

• Thunder: 47.7 ranks 12th
• Pistons: 50.0 ranks 22nd 

Second chance points:

• Thunder: 16.3 ranks second
• Pistons: 15.6 ranks third

Second chance allowed:

• Thunder: 12.2 ranks seventh
• Pistons: 10.9 ranks third

Fast break points scored:

• Thunder: 15.5 ranks sixth
• Pistons: 11.3 ranks 21st

Fast break points allowed:

• Thunder: 14.0 ranks 18th
• Pistons: 10.5 ranks second

Misleading stats?

The one factor to keep in mind is while the Pistons boast decent defensive numbers in these miscellaneous categories of their 20 games only four featured top 10 pace teams. Of those Detroit lost two, one went to overtime (a one point victory over Philly) and the other was against the Hawks.