Gameday: Raptors @ Pistons, March 29

The Toronto Raptors will have a chance to avenge themselves on Monday night, when they travel to Detroit to take on the last-place Pistons. While it’s the second night of a back-to-back for the Raptors — an area they have struggled with all season — the Pistons got worse at the deadline and are struggling with a host of minor injuries, so it is unclear how many rotations guys they will actually have.

The last time these two teams met was March 17, when the Pistons won 116-112. The game followed a path Raptors fans are used to seeing by now: the Pistons got out to an early start, winning the first quarter by 6, and despite the Raptors almost making a comeback in the fourth, they fell just short.

Rebounding was the biggest issue that night, as the small-ball Raptors were outrebounded 53-30. In Sekou Doumbouya, Mason Plumlee, and Isaiah Stewart, the Pistons have three energy big men who will hunt rebounds on both sides of the floor, so the Raptors need to focus on finishing possessions and not giving up offensive boards.

That game, the Raptors forced the Pistons to 20 turnovers, but were rarely able to convert on fast-break opportunities. Recently, the Raptors haven’t been running at all. It seems like an intentional strategy based on fatigue and the key players needing to do so much when they play small, but without fast-break points, the Raptors struggle to score. Their half-court offence has come to a halt as of late, with little to no off-ball movement or intentional sets being run. Instead, they are falling into the bad habit of isolation basketball, since their pick-and-rolls often result in nothing and they reset into an iso.

Pascal Siakam is averaging 10 free-throw attempts per game over his last three, and is playing arguably the best basketball of his season. Siakam carries such a big for the Raptors on both ends, especially when they play small and he acts as a rim protector and rebounder, but tonight will be a big test against the big Pistons. Siakam has struggled on the second night of back-to-backs, and while it’s hard to criticize him given that he just had COVID-19 and has so much responsibility on the floor, he will need to give the Raptors some juice tonight, especially if Kyle Lowry is still sidelined.

Tonight’s matchup against the Pistons represents a real opportunity for the Raptors to not only get their second win in 13 games against a team on a four-game losing streak, but also an opportunity to flip a switch of sorts and start a run against a slew of weaker (or injured) opponents coming up.

The Raptors simply need to find a way to win: they are in nearly every single game down the stretch, but have not yet learned how to win as a group. They went from one of the best clutch teams to one of the worst in a single season. If they manage to figure that out soon, they will be in the play-in tournament or even a six-seed in the East. If not, and if they keep losing games in this upcoming stretch, they will continue falling down the standings and we will have to start a dialogue about the lottery. All we can do is wait and see.