HOUSTON -- The Detroit Pistons saw an intentional-fouling strategy unlike anything they have seen previously, and it ended in a franchise record for free-throw attempts for Andre Drummond, as well as an all-time NBA record for missed free throws by an individual in a game.
It also ended in a Pistons road win, 123-114 over the Houston Rockets.
Drummond made 13 of 36 free throws, breaking the previous franchise record of 24 attempts -- and the NBA record of 22 misses -- as the Rockets tried to use his sub-40-percent free-throw shooting to compensate for the absence of two key starters, center Dwight Howard and point guard Patrick Beverley.
There was nothing nuanced about the strategy that included 21 intentional fouls against Drummond from the second through fourth quarters.
The Rockets intentionally fouled Drummond five times in the first nine seconds of the third quarter -- K.J. McDaniels was the designated hatchet man who caught them all -- and sent him to the line eight times in the first 2:38 of the third quarter.
Drummond made 5 of 16 during that stretch, when Houston cut a 56-47 halftime deficit to 61-60, at which time he was forced to the bench.
The Pistons rebuilt the lead over the next several minutes until the Rockets resumed the strategy in the fourth quarter, with three fouls in a three-second span to send Drummond back to the line with 7:36 left and Detroit up 99-88.
Drummond made 6 of 12 during that stretch before going to the bench, and the Pistons (23-19) began their four-game, six-day trip through the Western Conference with aplomb.
The previous record for missed free throws in a game was 22, by Wilt Chamberlain and DeAndre Jordan.
The Pistons' five starters combined for 97 points. All five had between 17 and 22 points.
• Jodie Meeks, the Pistons guard who suffered a broken foot in the second game of the season, could be back earlier than his post-All-Star-break projections previously. Meeks could do some drill work Sunday when the Pistons practice in Salt Lake City, and by late next week could be practicing fully. "Once he gets back into practice, then it's just us seeing where he is," Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy said. Meeks, who missed the first 22 games last season with a back injury, said he expects a quicker bounceback when he returns this time. "I'm more in shape than I was last year because I can move and do some stuff," Meeks said. "Last year, I was kind of sitting around. So I'll be in better shape when I come back. It won't take me long, anyway."
• Marcus Morris was 4 of 6 on 3-pointers for the Pistons. He was in a 3-of-29 slump the previous 11 games. He finished with 22 points and five rebounds, and drastically outplayed Rockets small forward Trevor Ariza, who finished with three points.
• Aron Baynes was excellent in place of Drummond, finishing with eight points and nine rebounds in 25 minutes.
• Stanley Johnson had seven points and nine rebounds off the bench.
• Howard never got to engage his matchup with Drummond. Howard suffered an ankle sprain 55 seconds into the game and did not return.
• Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was fined $10,000 by the NBA for kicking a chair en route to the locker room after he was ejected late in the third quarter of Monday's 111-101 loss to Chicago. Caldwell-Pope startled a young girl with his actions but said he realized his error, apologized, and gave the girl his autographed game jersey and another jersey.
• Rockets superstar James Harden had a triple-double before the midpoint of the third quarter and finished wtih 33 points, 17 rebounds and 14 assists.
• Caldwell-Pope and Van Gundy patched things up after the guard and coach got into a shouting match following the former's ejection Monday. "We're good," Caldwell-Pope said. "We had a talk before we got to Houston, so we're good. Everything's squared away. Everything was in the heat of the moment. We talked about it and squared it out." Van Gundy agreed, and said his criticism of Caldwell-Pope, in the immediate emotional aftermath of the ejection, was ill-timed. "Look, he's a great guy, he works his (tail) off, he's not a hothead or anything like that," Van Gundy said. "He had a bad day in terms of that and he got frustrated, and that's all it was. He yelled something back at me and that part was actually meaningless. The tough part was him getting thrown out."
• The Pistons had an air-clearing session about their interactions with game officials at Wednesday's shootaround. Brandon Jennings and Anthony Tolliver, in particular, said after Caldwell-Pope's ejection that the Pistons often spend too much time complaining to officials. The Pistons had eight individual technical fouls in six games before Wednesday.
• The Pistons who shot 24 free throws in a game and held the franchise record previously were George Yardley on Dec. 26, 1957; Walter Dukes on Nov. 19, 1960; and Bob Lanier on Nov. 13, 1978. They made 20, 20 and 16, respectively.
• The Pistons were 35 of 59 from the free-throw line, just shy of the franchise record 65 attempts.
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