Well, we got another banger of a game between the Detroit Pistons and Toronto Raptors. Dwane Casey’s Revenge continues; the Pistons beat the Raptors, 108-106. Jerami Grant led the way for Detroit with 26 points, Saddiq Bey added 23 points and six rebounds (as well as the game-sealing basket), and Cade Cunningham had a double-double with 22 points, 12 rebounds, and five assists.
Believe it or not, in the third quarter it looked like the Pistons would run away with the game. They came roaring out of the gate at halftime:
Pistons have 16 assists on 26 made shots. That’ll do. Nurse calls a timeout less than two minutes into the half as Detroit takes a seven-point lead.
— James Edwards III (@JLEdwardsIII) March 4, 2022
Then, Nick Nurse got himself ejected arguing foul calls (the referees were poor all night, in his defense):
As it often does, that ejection shifted the foul tide back Toronto’s way, and they used their newfound License to Hack effectively, trapping aggressively to speed up the Pistons’ ballhandlers. Don’t get me wrong, the Pistons helped, though. Detroit went without a field goal for the final four minutes of the third quarter and the first three minutes of the fourth quarter, subsiding only on a diet of free throws for that span. Toronto didn’t score a ton of points during that time, only closing things to a nine-point gap, but they disrupted enough of the game’s rhythm that the Pistons had to grind out the final segment of the fourth quarter.
But grind, the Pistons did. Saddiq Bey came up with a clutch, CLUTCH basket with under 15 seconds to go to push the lead to three:
(That’s Saddiq’s second ultra-clutch bucket THIS WEEK, by the way. Keep this up and the man might start to develop a reputation.)
Then, as the Raptors were trying to … I actually don’t know what Gary Trent Jr. was doing, driving to the basket to shoot down three with under four seconds to go, but either way, Cade blocked his shot, eliminating any chance Toronto had of coming back to take this game:
Exciting, exciting night for the Pistons in Toronto.
Stray thoughts:
- The Pistons are now 3-2 post All-Star Break, and looking dangerously competent. Luckily, the Orlando Magic are ALSO looking dangerously competent, so the race to the top of the lottery standings continues.
- Dwane Casey is now 9-3 against Toronto since being unceremoniously fired for the great sin of not being able to beat Prime LeBron. This is the sixth (!) straight win the Pistons have had over the Raptors.
- Scottie Barnes be throwing up some ugly-looking shots that go in, and then you start at the box score (21-10, two stocks) and it’s like, “Damn, ok, yeah I kinda get it.”
- Conversely, the box score doesn’t tell it, but Isaiah Stewart was a BEAST tonight. His activity gave the Raptors fits and was a big part of the reason the Pistons were able to build that lead initially.
There’s no rest for the Pistons, though; they play Indiana tomorrow on a back-to-back. At least it will be a very celebratory plane ride into Indianapolis tonight.