Zhang Yang ran straight to his tactical position in the frontcourt after getting there, having faced off against Prince so many times before, there was no need for probing or creating threats like they used to in the regular season games against the Pistons. Once he started moving, the Pistons' defensive focus shifted to him.
The Pistons' defense had a significant feature—delaying capabilities.
This was where the Pistons differed from the other two big defensive teams.
The Rockets and the Spurs had different defensive focuses. The former was good at switching defenses, and the latter excelled at help defense, but both were based on trapping.
The Pistons, on the other hand, were adept at disrupting the movement of players without the ball, using screens and so on. This season, with young Noah added to the starting lineup, their ability to delay was even stronger.
