 | Toronto | 105 | Final Box Score | 102 | Detroit |  |
 C | S. Ibaka32 MIN, 7 PTS, 7 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 2-9 FG, 1-6 3FG, 2-2 FT, 1 BLK, 1 TO, 9 +/- Early in the game, not only was his shot off, but he also didn’t seem to want to shoot. Both him and DeMarre looked off quite a few good opportunities, and they need to find the confidence in their own shots heading towards the postseason. The Raptors have won a good few games because of him since his arrival, tonight they won despite Serge. | |
 D | D. Carroll13 MIN, 2 PTS, 1 REB, 0 AST, 1 STL, 1-6 FG, 0-4 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, -6 +/- Couldn’t find his shot, and he didn’t look comfortable on defense. It’s easy to say you want his minutes cut, but the truth is the team is better off if he can figure things out. Not much time left before the postseason for him to put it together, though. | |
 A | J. Valanciunas27 MIN, 19 PTS, 5 REB, 2 AST, 0 STL, 9-11 FG, 0-0 3FG, 1-2 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, 2 +/- The bad, first: He got beat up on the boards by Detroit, and didn’t handle Drummond nearly as well as we’ve come to expect. On the other hand, he scored with ease, and had a couple assists again. Came through with some good fourth quarter minutes too, even though he missed a free throw that could’ve closed it out. | |
 A+ | K. Lowry42 MIN, 27 PTS, 5 REB, 10 AST, 2 STL, 9-16 FG, 2-5 3FG, 7-7 FT, 0 BLK, 2 TO, 5 +/- What a game from Lowry. It’s great just to see him on the court before the playoffs, but he was himself, at least on offense. For long stretches he was the only Raptor looking completely comfortable there, and kept the team in the game until other guys found their way late. He reminded everyone why he’s one of the best guards in the league. The defense wasn’t there, but after a month and a half off, he might just need some time to adjust to the speed of the NBA game. | |
 B+ | D. DeRozan34 MIN, 12 PTS, 4 REB, 10 AST, 0 STL, 5-17 FG, 0-1 3FG, 2-3 FT, 0 BLK, 3 TO, -2 +/- DeMar had a rough night scoring, and some of that is a credit to Detroit who handled the switches well and defended him admirably. Some of it was just missing shots, which will happen some nights. He adjusted well though, with a season high in assists, and went 3/3 in the last couple minutes to help along the comeback win. | |
 B | P. Tucker28 MIN, 9 PTS, 4 REB, 1 AST, 1 STL, 3-4 FG, 3-4 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, 4 +/- PJ scored and hit his 3s on a night when most of the Raptors shooters couldn’t, so credit to him for that. On the other hand, this was easily one of the worst defensive games he’s had as a Raptor, and it was odd to see him losing guys in the half court. | |
 A | C. Joseph27 MIN, 15 PTS, 5 REB, 1 AST, 2 STL, 6-14 FG, 2-6 3FG, 1-1 FT, 0 BLK, 2 TO, 1 +/- What Lowry didn’t do offensively in the first half, Cory did. Wasn’t as effective in the second half, but still was important to this victory. His defense still needs a lot of work before the playoffs. | |
 B | P. Patterson16 MIN, 10 PTS, 1 REB, 2 AST, 1 STL, 4-6 FG, 2-4 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -3 +/- It feels like Pat is sliding down in the rotation lately, and the defense hasn’t been there, and wasn’t again tonight. They could’ve used him being a presence on the boards as well. On the other hand, he did hit his shots and that’s something they’ve needed from him, so credit to Pat for that. | |
 B | J. Poeltl13 MIN, 4 PTS, 1 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 2-4 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, 0 +/- Poeltl was mostly unremarkable in his minutes tonight, aside from one finished alley-oop from Lowry in transition that was a lot of fun. Might find himself more and more on the outside looking in as far as minutes go as we get towards the playoffs. | |
 B | D. Wright9 MIN, 0 PTS, 2 REB, 3 AST, 1 STL, 0-0 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, 5 +/- Delon didn’t take anything off the table tonight, he just isn’t on the caliber of point guard that Kyle and Cory are at this point in his career, and it showed tonight. He’ll get there, and he’s a fantastic luxury to have at the end of the bench. | |
 C | Dwane Casey It felt like heroic efforts from a few players late saved what was mostly a poor effort. The team didn’t seem prepared defensively and were outworked for most of the game. You can’t completely blame Casey for the lack of effort, but at the same time, it’s something that definitely needs to be addressed going forward. | |
Things We Saw
- Kyle Lowry is back, and looked great, and that’s a great sign for the Raptors. With the Cavaliers beating Boston tonight as well(barring a remarkable comeback from the Celtics), this should help put the Raptors on the same side of the playoffs as the Celtics and away from the Wizards and Cavaliers, which is exactly where they want to be.
- There was a lot of hesitancy in the offense early, and definitely some signs that they need to figure out some things with re-integrating Lowry. They have 3 more games before the playoffs, and hopefully they can figure it out.
- Defense was unimpressive. It felt like when the Raptors came back in the second half it was less because their defense got better than just Detroit missing shots. Playing better teams in the playoffs, the Raptors will need to depend less on teams missing good shots and just be better on that end of the floor.
