After a crushing loss to the Indiana Pacers last game, hopefully it was the final wake up call that Toronto needs in order to truly lock in for this final stretch of games. The Detroit Pistons who are notorious for giving Toronto trouble in the past are coming to Scotiabank tonight and Toronto simply can’t afford to drop games like this, this late in the season.
Toronto’s depth seems to have taken a hit at the worst time possible, but even with the likes of Gary Trent Jr. Scottie Barnes, and Precious Achiuwa being out, you still have more than enough to handle Detroit. Detroit has had a defensive rating of 120.6 in their last 10 games, they are not a formidable defensive team currently, most of their top players are injured. I say all this to say a loss to this team would be beyond embarrassing and overall gut wrenching. Jaden Ivey’s quickness on the ball could prove to be a problem like it did the last time these teams matched up but even then, the Pistons defense should not be able to handle all of Toronto’s scoring options.
Detroit runs drop coverage and Fred VanVleet’s pull up shooting will be a viable option against this. Detroit doesn’t really have any defenders that can feasibly stop Pascal or OG either. Detroit does have a lot of size which could prove troublesome in the non-Jakob minutes but all-in-all this should be a relatively sweat free win for Toronto.
Game Info
Tip-Off: 7:30 pm EDT | TV: SN1 | Radio: SN590
Pistons Lineup
Cade Cunningham is out, Bogdan Bogdonovic is out, Isaiah Stewart is out, Alec Burks is out, Hamidou Diallo is out, Rodney Mcgruder is out.
PG: Killian Hayes, Cory Joseph
SG: Jaden Ivey, RJ Hampton
SF: Buddy Boheim, Jared Rhoden
PF: Marvin Bagley III,
C: James Wiseman, Jalen Duren
Raptors Lineup
Otto Porter jr. (foot) is out. Scottie Barnes (wrist) is questionable. Gary Trent Jr. is questionable(elbow), Precious Achiuwa is questionable(hamstring),
PG: Fred VanVleet, Malachi Flynn
SG: Will Barton
SF: O.G. Anunoby, Joe Wieskamp
PF: Pascal Siakam, Chris Boucher, Thaddeus Young
C: Jakob Poeltl, Christian Koloko
The Line
Toronto is favored by a staggering 12.5 points tells you how easy this game should be. The over-under is 226.
