Poor Jose Calderon. A guy who plays winning-type basketball if only he had a good defense behind him. He was a Grizzlie, but only in theory, as he was flipped right away for Tayshaun Prince and Austin Daye, as you all know.
Well, he remains the one and only story line on this night. He seems like an emotional guy, so it’ll be interesting to see how he responds. Rumor has it that he may be back next year. Semi-interesting, to say the least.
There is actually another storyline. Amir Johnson is on my fantasy team and I need FG% and blocks in the worst way, so Amir, please man up and sacrifice your long-term health for tonight.
My fantasy research has revealed that he is with the team in Detroit and is a game-time decision. It also revealed that Andre Drummond may be back tonight after missing significant time with a back injury. Probably the second most impressive rookie this year, after Damien Lillard.
Alright, without further ado, here are the cold hard numbers for your perusal.
The Tale of the Tape
O-Rating: Detroit 103.0 (23rd), Toronto 105.6 (16th)
D-Rating: Detroit 108.3 (25th), Toronto 108.1 (23rd)
Pace: Detroit 90.6 (23rd), Toronto 90.4 (24th)
Strength: Detroit, 11th in Offensive Rebounding %
Weakness: Toronto, has Bryan Colangelo as a GM
The Picks
Bet365: OTB (Off the board)
Wally: I’m Off The Board too, for the same reasons as Vegas probably has it. Not sure if Amir will play, a Drummond is also not certain. But Detroit is most certainly in “losing ain’t so bad” mode so this should tilt the game in Toronto’s favor if it’s close down the stretch.
