It wasn’t the most flawless victory that the Toronto Raptors have gotten this season, but it was a victory nonetheless. A franchise record-tying victory. That’s right, the 2013-14 Raptors have hit 47 wins with two games remaining before the postseason begins. If you couldn’t watch this one, you missed out on some fine Sunday afternoon entertainment. Game #80 was packed with drama, to say the least.
At the beginning of this matchup, the Raptors were absolutely dominating the Detroit Pistons. The shots were falling, the defense made life difficult for the home team, and both Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond were in early foul trouble. At the end of the first frame, Toronto led 42-26. At halftime they were up 63-49. What happened in the second half? You guessed it, the Pistons increased their compete level and made this a game. Luckily, the Raptors had a strong enough fourth quarter to escape with a 116-107 win.
Offense: A-
Offense wasn’t the problem for the Raptors. In all honesty, the approach to this matchup was pretty exceptional from an offensive standpoint. Early on in the game, Toronto established a presence in the paint by consistently attacking the basket with a healthy dose transition plays and post isolations that worked to perfection. Jonas Valanciunas got his touches early and often, on his way to an 18 point outing. With the Raptors getting so many easy buckets, the Pistons were forced to place more emphasis on packing the paint. Toronto countered by taking and making good looks from beyond the arc. Essentially, everything was near perfect for the road team until the second half began.
With Detroit completely shifting the momentum in the third quarter, the Raptors needed a bit more scoring to get over the hump. Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan answered the call. Lowry continued his post-injury tear (absolutely zero pun intended) by scoring 28 points and dropping seven dimes before being fouled out with about six minutes remaining in the game. With Lowry sitting out the game’s waning moments, DeRozan took over and led his team to victory. He finished with 30 points on 10 of 19 shooting, scoring an impressive 14 in the final frame to close things out. He also did this:
Defense: B-
While the Pistons did score 107 this afternoon, Toronto’s defense wasn’t that bad. Detroit shot 42% as a team from the field and just 25% from downtown. the Raptors were able to force the opposition to take a wide array of tough attempts late in the shot clock and they found ways to get transition opportunities by forcing 15 Detroit turnovers. What was the problem then? The Raptors just couldn’t get stops in the second half. An old basketball adage equates defensive rebounds to the periods of sentences, so through following that logic, one could argue that Toronto was writing in point form at the Palace today. Which brings me to my next point…
Rebounding: D
Toronto’s defensive rebounding wasn’t pretty. Toronto’s offensive rebounding totals weren’t very attractive either. Detroit simply dominated this facet of the game, outrebounding the Raptors 55-40. The main factor that caused the Pistons to mount such a huge comeback in the third quarter was their tenacious effort on the glass. Andre Drummond (14 points, 11 total rebounds, 6 offensive rebounds) and Greg Monroe (23 points, 10 total rebounds, 6 offensive rebounds) were grabbing offensive boards and getting second chance points at a rate that would’ve made for a fun drinking game. At one point in the late third quarter, Detroit’s team rebounding total nearly doubled that of Toronto’s. It was that bad.
Still, I’ve got to give credit to the Raptor players that carried their weight when it came to this component in the game. Chuck Hayes (who got cut pretty badly above his left eye this afternoon) grabbed a team high 10 rebounds. Patrick Patterson and Jonas Valanciunas chipped in with 8 apiece.
Side note: the fourth quarter effort saved the team from getting an “F” in this area.
Game Ball – DeMar DeRozan
I was close to making DeRozan share the game ball with Lowry because the reality is that both of the backcourt players showed up today. However, DeMar gets the edge because of the late-game takeover. Oh yeah, and that incredible dunk. Need more aggression like that to close the season.
