Houston and Detroit both won, but the extra possessions came from different places. The Rockets kept pulling down missed shots against Denver; the Pistons got Washington to give the ball away. It is a useful reminder that a final margin can hide very different problems for the team that lost. Which of those two games felt more tilted while it was actually being played?
Houston’s provisional win over Denver was 110–100, with 15 offensive rebounds to Denver’s seven and 29 assists to 19. Detroit’s provisional 122–111 win over Washington came with 11 turnovers to Washington’s 19 and 31 assists to 16. The box scores show where possessions and passes separated; they cannot tell us every defensive decision that caused them.
