Gameday: Raptors @ Pistons, Jan. 31

After laying a beatdown on the lowly Atlanta Hawks and playing a surprisingly competitive game versus the basement-dwelling Cleveland Cavaliers, Toronto plays a home-away-from-home in downtown Detroit. Coming off a thrilling win in Ohio, the Raptors waltz back into their homecourt for a second time in three days. Little Caesars Are-… I mean, sorry. It’s…

After laying a beatdown on the lowly Atlanta Hawks and playing a surprisingly competitive game versus the basement-dwelling Cleveland Cavaliers, Toronto plays a home-away-from-home in downtown Detroit. Coming off a thrilling win in Ohio, the Raptors waltz back into their homecourt for a second time in three days. Little Caesars Are-… I mean, sorry. It’s an away game. Yes, Detroit games are away games (at least on paper).

It seems like ages ago when Toronto came out victorious in the October 30th matchup. Then came the mostly forgetful December 18th matchup. Almost exactly three months after the October contest, Toronto has transformed their 4-1 to an impressive 34-14 record (considering the ugly hand of cards they’ve been dealt this season). On the other side of the border, Detroit stands at 17-32 — good for a current standing of 10th in the Eastern Conference. To their credit, and despite being a disastrous season thus far — the Pistons sit only 4.5 games behind the 8th seed Brooklyn Nets in the conference. To be fifteen games under .500 approaching February and this being the current state of affairs for Detroit? They’ll take it. To be fair, the Pistons have dealt with a lingering knee injury to their All-NBA big, Blake Griffin. The 6’10 forward underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in the offseason, missed the first 10 games of the season, returned for 18 games and the NBA world noticed something wasn’t right. Blake Griffin wasn’t Blake Griffin. Reports began to circulate that Griffin was feeling continued knee discomfort. As the year flipped to 2020, the Detroit Pistons announced Griffin underwent an “arthroscopic debridement” of his left knee. More recent reports have the star bigman missing the rest of the season. A crushing blow to a Pistons team that was building a competitive roster that blended veteran talent with a splash of appealing, young talent.

The reality for these two teams couldn’t be more different. One team finds themselves returning from a championship season, while the other desperately tries finding an identity. Detroit — losers of five of their last six — must play their best basketball just to dip their hand into the Eastern playoff race. Derrick Rose has been having a resurgent season, while Andre Drummond has maintained his usual high-production. The enormous reliance on two mostly above-average players has put Detroit in a bind. Toronto? They sit 2nd in the conference riding a nine-game win streak, and winners of eight straight on the road (one shy of a franchise record). In contrast to Rose and Drummond — All Star starter Pascal Siakam, All Star reserve Kyle Lowry and a host of others have led the charge for Toronto.

Former Raptors head coach, Dwane Casey has been a focal point in these recent matchups, and rightfully so. His deep understanding of Toronto’s roster makeup and Nick Nurse’s tactical schemes give him an edge most NBA head coaches simply don’t have.

Raptors fans have read hundreds of pieces this season on the bright spots all over the roster. Nurse’s masterful roster-handling, a boatload of massively-improved players, Siakam’s continued progress into (super) stardom, the unearthing of Terence Davis II etc. Detroit though, has some bright lights of their own. Luke Kennard, Bruce Brown and Sekou Doumbouya have shown flashes of “core value” in the Pistons roster building strategy. Doumbouya specifically holds the most untapped potential of the three. A physical specimen with tons of two-way upside. Like any recently-turned 19 year-old, it’s been an rocky season for Sekou. With an earlier stint in the NBA G League, Detroit has watched his recent play dip during their four-game losing streak.

Dwane Casey was asked about Doumbouya after Detroit’s last 15-point loss to Cleveland.

“There’s a lot of things that are going on. It’s about being a pro. He’s 18 or 19 years old, [it] isn’t easy. He has to grow up,” Casey said. “He’s got the talent, it’s there. It’s in there, we just have to continue to develop him not only as a basketball player, but as a young man. There’s a lot of things he needs to understand about what it means to be a pro.” (NBA.com)

After watching clips of Sekou this season, his offseason pro draft comparisons of Tyrus Thomas, Al Thornton and Pascal Siakam were… valid. Beyond the play-style comparisons, the Siakam connection is intriguing, especially considering Dwane Casey was at the helm when Pascal was drafted to Toronto. Both players originate from the continent of Africa (Siakam from Cameroon, Doumbouya from Guinea), both began playing basketball relatively late in their lives (Siakam at the age of 16, Doumbouya at 12), both drafted in similar positions just three years apart (Siakam at 27th overall, Doumbouya at 19th), and both serve as colossal role models to the growing African youth contingent with dreams of making the leap to the NBA. One thing’s for sure, Motor City fans are salivating at the oozing potential the young forward possesses.

And they should be.

The current all-time record between both teams rests at 54 wins for Detroit, 37 for Toronto in a total of 91 regular season games. For longtime Raptor fans, this isn’t surprising. Detroit dominated Toronto for the vast majority of the 2000s, while Toronto has had the edge in this recent decade. The Pistons have eclipsed 40 wins just twice (2015-2016, 2018-2019) in the last 11 seasons. In the same span of time, Toronto has eclipsed 40 victories a total of seven times.

Toronto leads the regular season series 2-0.

Dwane Casey’s sophomore season in Detroit has been bumpier than the first. Can he slow down a red-hot Toronto and flip the recent fortunes of Detroit in a statement game?

Game Info

Tipoff: 7:30 pm EST | TV: SN1 | Radio: TheFan590. The Raptors are a 4.5 favorite in Detroit.

Raptors Updates

PG: Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, Terence Davis II

SG: Norman Powell, Patrick McCaw

SF: OG Anunoby, Stanley Johnson

PF: Pascal Siakam, Chris Boucher

C: Serge Ibaka

QUESTIONABLE: Marc Gasol (hamstring), Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (ankle), Malcolm Miller (neck), Dewan Hernandez (ankle)

Pistons Updates

Andre Drummond (eye) and Blake Griffin (knee) are game time decisions, Reggie Jackson (back) is out.

PG: Derrick Rose, Reggie Jackson, Tim Frazier

SG: Tony Snell, Langston Galloway

SF: Bruce Brown, Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk

PF: Sekou Doumbouya, Christian Wood

C: Andre Drummond, Thon Maker

OUT: Blake Griffin (knee), Luke Kennard (knee)

QUESTIONABLE: Khyri Thomas (foot), Markieff Morris (illness)