After a brutal Friday night loss against Utah, Toronto will look to right the ship against Detroit. This is a team that has given the Raptors a lot of trouble ever since their acquisition of former Raptors head coach Dwane Casey, but Toronto got a win in their last meeting with a tight 115-111 victory at Detroit on November 14.
Raptors scope (26-31, 11th in East | Offensive rating: 11th | Defensive rating: 17th)
Last five games: vs Jazz 122 – 116 L, vs Spurs 112 – 98 W, @ Grizzlies 106 – 103 W, @ Rockets 117 – 111 W, @ Jazz 131 – 128 L
Toronto’s dreams of a perfect homestand came to a quick end on Friday night as the Jazz stole the game away from the Raptors late in the game, but an opportunity to get right back on track arises against a struggling side. Nick Nurse won’t be at the game due to personal reasons so Adrian Griffin will fill in as the head coach today.
Pistons scope (15-42, 14th in East | Offensive rating: 27th | Defensive rating: 29th)
Last five games: vs Spurs 138 – 131 W, @ Cavaliers 113 – 85 L, vs Celtics 111 – 99 L, vs Suns 116 – 100 L, vs Hornets 118 – 112 W
The Pistons once again are a bottom-feeder team in the NBA and they’ve had tough luck as they lost their number one pick from the 2021 draft class Cade Cunningham a couple of days prior to their showdown with the Raptors back in November.
Game Info
Tip-Off: 3:00 PM EST | TV: TSN 1/4 | Radio: Sportsnet 590
Raptors Lineup
Same old for Toronto, O.G. Anunoby (wrist) is out again and it was recently revealed that he doesn’t have a set timetable for his return and Otto Porter Jr’s season is over (toe.) Gary Trent Jr (calf) is also out.
PG: Fred VanVleet, Malachi Flynn
SG: Joe Wieskamp
SF: Scottie Barnes, Juancho Hernangomez
PF: Pascal Siakam, Chris Boucher, Thaddeus Young
C: Precious Achiuwa, Jakob Poeltl
Pistons Lineup
There are four members that are on the injury report for Detroit and three of them are already confirmed to be out, Nerlens Noel (personal,) Marvin Bagley (hand) and Cade Cunningham (shin.) New acquisition James Wiseman is now ruled out due to the uncertainty of the four-team trade involving Gary Payton.
PG: Killian Hayes, Cory Joseph
SG: Jaden Ivey, Hamidou Diallo, Alec Burks, Rodney McGruder, Stanley Umude
SF: Bojan Bogdanovic, Isaiah Livers
PF: Isaiah Stewart
C: Jalen Duren
The Line
Raps are favoured heavily in this one as they are 11.5-point favourites. Over/Under is 225.5.
