Raptors lose to half Pistons team. Casey draws up greatest play ever.
 | Amir Johnson, PF 31 MIN | 5-5 FG | 3-4 FT | 8 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 13 PTS | -9 +/-The offensive stat-line looks decent, but man, this guy cannot deal with incoming guards in the paint and may as well not be there as a second line of defense. He bites on every head-fake, is caught out of position easily, and doesn’t have the “recoverability” he once had on defense. Raps played some pick ‘n roll through him which worked a bit, and a doctor would describe his game as ‘unremarkable’ (which is generally a good thing). |  |
 | Terrence Ross, SF 30 MIN | 4-11 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 9 PTS | -7 +/-The positive is those few possessions where he guarded Reggie Jackson in the fourth quarter during the Raptors 11-0 run which saw them take the lead, and a couple drives where he didn’t stop short. The negative is everything else. His offense needs to diversify just a tad bit just so he’s not entirely predictable. |  |
 | Jonas Valanciunas, C 30 MIN | 5-12 FG | 2-2 FT | 8 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 3 BLK | 2 TO | 12 PTS | -9 +/-Got eaten up by Drummond a bit, and didn’t deliver enough punishment in return. Of course, it helps that Detroit goes to Drummond every other possession and Valanciunas is pretty much an after-thought. Defensively he wasn’t as aware and picked up fouls that he could’ve avoided. |  |
 | Kyle Lowry, PG 11 MIN | 2-4 FG | 1-1 FT | 2 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 5 PTS | -11 +/-The biggest story of the game, really. Left with back spasms and hopefully he gets healthy real soon because without him, we’re first-round fodder. |  |
 | DeMar DeRozan, SG 42 MIN | 5-17 FG | 12-12 FT | 10 REB | 4 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 22 PTS | -7 +/-He played soooo hard. Driving and trying to get to the FT line when the shot wasn’t there (and it wasn’t most of the night). Pretty much single-handedly kept the Raptors close in the fourth, while dealing with Detroit wings playing him extremely physical and tight. Taking a broader view, I really feel that if the Raptors had a half-decent offensive mind as a head coach, we’d see DeRozan flourish a lot more than just spending 10 seconds every possession trying to receive a hand-off for a clear-out. With the game on the line, ,he drove the ball and, of course, the defense knew he was looking for a foul and adjusted. Game over. I’d even say the B+ grade is generous because when you lose by four and you go 5-17… |  |
 | Tyler Hansbrough, PF 8 MIN | 1-1 FG | 2-2 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 4 PTS | +4 +/-Came in to deliver a decent offensive performance, with some good cuts, a score and generally good movement. However, he’s simply too small to deal with Drummond and the more agile Detroit bigs. |  |
 | Patrick Patterson, PF 27 MIN | 4-8 FG | 3-3 FT | 5 REB | 4 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 13 PTS | +6 +/-Stuck with his game and a had a huge put-back And1 to give the Raptors a lead late in the fourth. Defensively, he got killed on rotations and close-outs against a Detroit team that was moving the ball very well, especially in the first three quarters. The best example of that was how late in the fourth his angles on a close-out against Prince were just downright fundamentally wrong, allowing the latter to drive in for an easy floater. | |
 | Greivis Vasquez, PG 28 MIN | 3-6 FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 3 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 7 PTS | -1 +/-I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Raptors guard play worse defense this year. Reggie Jackson was destroying him with or without screens, and Casey’s response to it came very late. It doesn’t even matter what he did on offense, because he gave 300% of that back on defense. |  |
 | Louis Williams, SG 33 MIN | 6-11 FG | 4-5 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 19 PTS | +14 +/-Had a “Good Lou” game, coaxing people into fouling him from three and hitting those step-backs. Once you view his game through the lens of a contract year, suddenly every shot he takes makes sense. We’re lucky that he was ‘on’ today because without his scoring which kept us within a shout, this would’ve been a big blowout. To his credit, he did a lot more of turning the corner on the screen and finding people than he normally does, and though his assist numbers don’t reflect it, he did look to pass. Oh yeah, took a 28-footer with the game on the line down two with plenty of time. SMH. | |
 | James Johnson, PF DNP COACH’S DECISION MIN | FG | FT | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PTS | +/-He didn’t play. I shit you not. | |
 | Dwane Casey LOL at not calling a timeout to setup the final play, and opting for Lou Williams to dribble out the clock, not pass to anyone, and take a pull-up 28-footer like that’s been working out for us. Responded to Jackson abusing Vasquez very late. How Caldwell-Pope burned us for the second time this season speaks to the lack of preparation that went into this one, and how we’re down 18 to a Detroit team missing Brandon Jennings and Greg Monroe is just downright embarrassing. In his HT interview he spoke about teams “not feeling” us…WTF does that even mean? | |
Four Things We Saw
- The Raptors defense is a joke. Giving up 37 to the Pistons in the first quarter? I don’t know if anything speaks of a lack of preparation more than that. Or maybe it was Detroit shooting 50% well into the third quarter. Honestly, did we honestly not know that they’d use Jackson to go at Vasquez?
- The Raptors cannot cover the three-point line because they’re scrambling all the time, and don’t have the discipline to contain and close-out effectively. We saw the Pistons kill the Raptors after the initial catch on the perimeter because the Raptors angles/momentum are so bad, that it makes the offensive players’ decision easy.
- I can’t even be bothered to look up if James Johnson was injured, because I find I’ll get too upset knowing that he wasn’t and Casey didn’t use him at a venue where he had one of his best games of the year.
- Ugh
