The fact that the entire defensive game plan was to take away the three-ball pounds home just how poorly that first quarter was for Toronto. “It sucks when you lose a game by a possession or two when you could have played hard the whole game,” DeMar DeRozan said. “We just got to get it together.” Detroit scored 37 in the first quarter, 21 of those points coming from beyond the three-point line. The 37 marks the second highest by an opponent in the first this year. The only worse butt-kicking came in Golden State, where the Warriors went off for 40.
“I twisted the wrong way and it gave out,” Lowry said after game. ”It’s probably the same injury, so I’m going to have to take my time and get it right.” The Raptors would be wise to rest their star point guard and odds are that’s what their going to do. There’s almost no chance he suits up in Toronto’s game Wednesday against Chicago and it would be surprising to see him back for at least a couple weeks. Greivis Vasquez will step in for Lowry in the starting lineup. “I would rather for him to get totally healthy before he comes back so he is totally ready down the stretch run,” said head coach Dwane Casey.
The problem for the Raptors is, even if they clinch the Atlantic Division on Wednesday against the Chicago Bulls at the ACC, or whenever it surely happens, it won’t have very much meaning. All the division title will mean is a nice banner to hang in the rafters next year. The Raptors have not won a game against a team currently above .500 since Feb. 20, losing nine straight. Sure, only eight of their 11 games are against teams above .500, but eight of those are against teams still fighting for a playoff spot or trying to improve a seed. “I can see glimpses (of improvement) in areas, but then you go back in other areas,” Casey said explaining his lack of celebration. “The curse of getting out early in the race is human nature. Now we’re cracking the whip, cracking the whip, cracking the whip, pushing, pushing, pushing. I think you see a lot of teams in the league doing that now. It’s a different hunt, other than scratching and clawing to get there. Fighting human nature of relaxing and complacency.” The Raptors have a lot of work to do in their last 11 if they want to go deeper than the opening round. The Pistons used their third different starting point guard in the four-game season-series. All of them — Brandon Jennings, D.J. Augustin and now Reggie Jackson — have all had superb nights. Jackson contributed 28 points, nine assists and five rebounds; point guards are clearly trending against the Raps.
Van Gundy was pleased to see so many players contribute for the Pistons. Caron Butler hit a couple of early 3-pointers to help kick-start the Pistons’ offense. Tayshaun Prince was 2-for-9 from the field but had a big basket with a minute left to give Detroit a 105-102 lead. And Jodie Meeks’ only two points came on a pair of free throws with 1.6 seconds left that finished the scoring. “Those are the kinds of things that winning teams do,” Van Gundy said. “Everybody finds a way to make a contribution and then Andre had a couple of his best defensive possessions, maybe of the year, down the stretch.” The Pistons’ four victories during the last five games have come against teams that are holding down playoff positions – Memphis, Chicago, Boston and now Toronto. “I’ll say this, when you’re coming off 10 losses in a row, I don’t care if you’re beating the Little Sisters of the Poor. You just want to win. But we’ve beaten good teams. Memphis, Chicago, Boston had won nine out of 10 at home. These guys (the Raptors) are going to have home court in the playoffs.
Sure the Pistons almost coughed up a double digit halftime lead, but despite almost assuredly missing the playoffs, Van Gundy has this team playing with a lot of energy, and more importantly they seem to finally be gelling. It’s nights like this–when the Pistons three best prospects, Drummond, Caldwell-Pope, and Jackson, all go for 20 plus points and impact the game in a variety of ways– that should encourage fans about the direction of the franchise moving forward.
Thanks to 22 second-half freebie attempts in all, most of which came from DeMar DeRozan attacking the basket, and Lou Williams, the Raptors came all the way back from what was once an 18-point Pistons lead to take a couple different one-point leads. Impressively, though, the Pistons answered each fourth quarter deficit with a run, 7-0 and 7-2 respectively, to capture the win. Drummond finished two rebounds shy of another 20-20 (21 & 18). Jackson led all scorers with 28 points and was one assist shy of a double-double. KCP had 26 points on 17 shots (5-9 from three). The Pistons have won three straight and, with 11 games remaining, are only 4.5 out of the No. 8 seed. They couldn’t, right? Nahh….
Detroit 108, Toronto 104: Pesky Pistons hold off Raptors | Detroit Free Press
The Raptors almost made their fans’ trip worth it. They clawed back from an 18-point deficit midway in the third quarter to take a 91-90 lead on DeRozen’s jumper with 5:41 left in the fourth quarter. “I’ve said this even when we’ve come back,” Van Gundy said. “People make too much of that. It’s an NBA game. Those things happen all the time. We’ve been on both sides of it. “It’s a 48-minute game. Whoever scores the most at the end of 48, wins. I’m not the least bit concerned with blowing the lead. As a matter of fact, just give me an 18-point lead every night and we’ll go from there.” But the Pistons did some clawing of their own. They struggled in the fourth quarter, when they shot 46% on free throws (5-for-11) and 36% from the field. But they did just enough. Jackson appealed for the key replay review with 1:18 left and the Pistons leading, 103-102. Tayshaun Prince’s skyhook 18 seconds later sealed it.
Lowry re-injures back in controversial defeat | TSN
With 23 seconds remaining, Pistons up two, Reggie Jackson air-balled a three-pointer, leaving the door open for the Raptors to force overtime or win a game they probably had no business being in to begin with. Down by as many as 18, Toronto trailed for most of the night. With Casey declining to call his final timeout, Lou Williams brought the ball up and killed the clock. Running a play we frequently see from the high-scoring reserve at the end of quarters, Williams stepped back and launched a 27-foot three-ball that ultimately rimmed out, sealing Toronto’s fate. “We had just scored on the same play,” Casey said after the game. “We call it the three-quarter fist. It’s a high pick and roll, for whatever reason Lou decided not to use it. Again, you have to trust it. The first screen didn’t set and we probably could have called a timeout with six seconds but I thought Lou would attack. It was a set play we had already called but we missed the screen.” Evidently Williams didn’t get the message. “We didn’t call a play,” Williams said. “Once I got across half-court and realized we weren’t going to call a timeout, to me it became a routine play for me. If you’ve been watching Raptor basketball, right to left crossover three-point shot, that’s just the shot I shoot at the end of quarters. So that was the same scenario for me. No different that the game was on the line. That’s a shot I’m comfortable with, that’s a shot that I make, that’s the shot that I missed tonight.”
Game Rap: Raptors 104 Pistons 108 | Toronto Raptors
“They got us every which way. It wasn’t a lack of effort. It was a lack of focus. Lack of intelligence and we’ve got to be better. We were much better in the second half with reading the situation and understanding who was rotating. Our job in the first and second half was to take out the three ball.” – Raptors head coach Dwane Casey, on his team’s first half defence
Toronto Raptors fail to clinch trip to playoffs vs. the Pistons | Raptors Cage
That was just gross. The Pistons racked up 37 points in the first quarter, had 60 at the half, and at one point led by 18 during the second half. They made 12 of their 29 threes, a lot of which were uncontested. If you shouldn’t blame Casey for that last play, you can certainly blame him for playing either Greivis Vasquez or Williams over Terrence Ross down the stretch. For the first time in recent memory, Ross played exceptionally good defence against the oppositions best perimeter player. In this case, he was able to repeatedly cut-off Reggie Jackson from the paint, helping the Raptors claw back in this one. When Jackson had Vasquez on him, he exploited him for profit. Jackson had nine of his 28 points in that final quarter. The only reason this isn’t an F is because of the Raptors effort in that final quarter. However, it came way too late.
Toronto Raptors: Defensive Woes Still Holding the Raps Back | Raptors Rapture
First, James Johnson needs to play more. He has been a wonderful addition for the Raps this season, offering acrobatic shooting around the rim and lockdown defence. Aside from Kyle Lowry, he is probably the squad’s best defender, with the ability to earn stops at power forward, small forward or shooting guard. He only plays 19.9 minutes per game, putting him at ninth on the team’s depth chart. But, he could be so much more than his current role for the Raptors dictates, especially in the playoffs, where defence wins far more games than offence. Another player worth considering is Chuck Hayes, who has received sparse minutes this year. Hayes plays only 8.7 minutes per game, but could offer much needed toughness to the power forward or centre spot. Hayes is a defensive specialist with no interest in doing anything but make life miserable for opposing bigs. He could take some minutes from Patterson and Amir Johnson, who have not been the strongest defenders this year. Casey should be looking to make some rotation adjustments in the 11 games his team has left before the playoffs. They clearly need to find defensive solutions, so Johnson and Hayes might provide some answers.
Raptors Coach Casey Says Terrence Ross Has His Focus Back | Pro Bball Report
Pre-All-Star break Ross was shooting a disappointing 36.8 percent from three-point range, but after the break that has ballooned to 41.5 percent. For a player who has been reluctant to drive and rarely gets to the free throw line, a nearly 5 percent bump in his three-point shooting is huge. Casey’s generous assessment of Ross’ play isn’t without some merit. Prior to being reinserted into the starting lineup, Ross was a +0.3 points per game while he was on the court and that can only been described as terrible on a team winning 60 percent of their games. Since rejoining the starters nine games ago, Ross is +2.6 points while on the court – not great, but at least respectable. On a relative basis, maybe Casey’s high praise isn’t so far off base even if there remains massive room for improvement.
Photo By Duane Burleson/AP
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