Detroit’s reserve unit outplayed what was essentially Toronto’s starting five in the last 12 minutes. Led by reserve Rodney Stuckey’s 10 fourth-quarter points (Stuckey had 18 points overall, matching the entire output of the Raptors’ bench), the Pistons prevailed 91-84.
The result came despite the best efforts of Toronto’s all-star forward Chris Bosh, who had another big game for the Raptors, scoring a game-high 30 points, while picking up 10 rebounds and four assists.
The Raptors have beaten only one winning team since Feb. 20 (the Pistons, at home on March 26), not exactly a good omen heading into the playoffs. Still, everyone in the visitors’ locker room was keeping a stiff upper lip yesterday in the face of their weak play of late. The Raptors have lost 16 games since Feb. 29.
"(But) we’ve beaten a lot of good teams before that, so we can’t just let the last two months discourage us," Bosh said. "That’s not the definition of our season. We still have a lot of good things we can do. The last three games we’re 2-1. That’s how I look it."
Still, starting shooting guard Anthony Parker believes that the Raptors do have the ability to turn the season around.
"We don’t have to convince ourselves that we can do it. We know we can do it," he said.
"We don’t sit around looking at a bunch of stats and data and that kind of thing. Playoffs are completely different. You’re locking in on one team and everybody knows what each other’s going to do. And we have the confidence that no matter who we play, we can win."
Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell was in a grumpy mood prior to Toronto’s game against the Detroit Pistons at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
For instance, when asked about the perennially powerful Pistons, Mitchell replied: "We talk about this all the time. 50 wins, seven years in a row, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. They’re a good basketball team."
Mitchell also dismissed suggestions that tonight’s game at home against the dreadful Miami Heat at the Air Canada Centre is a sure-fire victory.
"(New Orleans) got beat by Sacramento, so I guess Sacramento didn’t get the memo — that because they’re out of the playoffs, they’re not supposed to try to win," he said. "I keep telling y’all (reporters), when the game starts, nobody’s thinking about anything except trying to play the best they can and try to win basketball games."
Starting centre Rasho Nesterovic has recorded double figures in scoring in 16 straight games, his longest streak as a member of the Raptors … Former Raptors GM and Toronto resident Glen Grunwald, who is the senior vice-president of basketball operations with the New York Knicks, reportedly will be let go by the team when new president Donnie Walsh fires head coach Isiah Thomas. Thomas brought Grunwald to New York … Heading into yesterday’s game, the Raptors had recorded 27 games with a single-digit turnover total. Yesterday, they turned the ball over 11 times.
"I think that no matter who we play in the playoffs we are just going to have to change the mentality and the focus to the game," said Rasho Nesterovic. "We can’t make the same mistakes we’ve been making in the past 10 to 15 games."
And there’s the big problem with all this bravado about turning things around before the post-season starts next weekend. The Raptors have beaten two teams with records better than .500 in their last 20 games; they’ve stumbled against some of the minnows of the league and, to recall impressive wins at Boston, San Antonio and New Orleans takes a visit deep into the memory banks.
"We’ve beaten a lot of good teams before that, so we can’t just let the last two months discourage us," said Chris Bosh, who had 30 points yesterday. "We know what we’ve done, that’s why we play 82 games.
"The last two months we’ve played about 20 and that’s not a definition of our season. We still have a lot of good things we can do."
"We can’t rely on choosing our opponent," said Nesterovic. "Whoever is there, we are going to have to play better basketball than we are right now."
Or, as coach Sam Mitchell puts it: "It doesn’t matter who you’re playing, it’s how you’re playing. If we’re playing well, we can beat anybody. If you’re not playing well, you’re not going to beat anybody."
And it wasn’t just the shots. End of first quarter, Pistons with last shot and Bargnani simply forgets to switch out on Tayshaun Prince in the corner and Prince drills a wide-open three. Bargnani gets the requisite earful from Sam as he walks back to the bench, seemingly oblivious. That blown assignment has nothing to do with shooting mechanics, that’s got to do with mental mechanics.
A five-second violation? I can’t remember the last one called in a game I’ve been at. Not sure if they were trying to call a timeout to avoid it but just another mental gaffe.
A subtle change of late. Have you noticed that in the past few games the first big to come out of the game is Bosh, not Nesterovic. And usually it’s only for a minute or two. Back in the day, they’d often leave Bosh on the court for the entire first quarter and for a few minutes of the second.
Asked Sam about it and here’s his (logical) explanation:
"I think sometimes I play him for too long stretches but it’s hard to take him out, he’s my comfort zone. I know if I need a shot, we can throw the basketball to him.”
There’s a fine line between being confident, overconfident and perhaps a bit delusional.
The Toronto Raptors have been dancing around it for the past few weeks as they try to convince themselves they’re a playoff-worthy team despite all evidence.
"We’re not paying attention to [our record]," Toronto’s Chris Bosh said. "The last three games, we’re 2 and 1. That’s how I look at it. We just can look back and dwell on the past. We’re looking forward to the future, we’re looking forward to playoffs and playing to get in that playoff form."
"We’re in sixth right now, we don’t want to go down," Bosh said. "We know this is a tough place to play and somewhere you don’t want to start out. We just want to build some momentum and play these next two games, see what Philly does and see where we end up by Wednesday."
It’s worth noting that the Orlando Magic are the only playoff-bound team the Raptors have beaten since Feb. 1 — if you discount Toronto’s win over Detroit on March 26 when the Pistons were missing all-star Richard Hamilton.
Bosh, in contrast, was a man on an island. The Pistons elected not to send a second defender to him and he certainly was able to get his points, but other than 16 from Rasho Nesterovic, who expertly found pockets of space near the basket, the rest of the lineup was 15-for-47.
There were still some optimistic voices in the locker room afterward, however.
"We know we can do it," said Anthony Parker, who scored six points in his 32 minutes of floor time. "There’s no convincing us [we can't]. We don’t sit around looking at the stats and data and that kind of thing. That’s the luxury of being a player. The playoffs is a different season. You lock in on one team, everyone knows what you’re going to do and we have the confidence that we can win."
The timely offence is one thing, but there’s little doubt that the best benefit that Rasho provides the Raptors as a starter is the ability to cover opposing bigs without significant amounts of help. The Pistons called Rasheed Wallace’s number three straight times at one point early in the first quarter and all Wallace could manage was a basket against two awkward misses and a blocked shot by Moon who had time to help because Rasho didn’t let Rasheed score on his first move.
With ABC broadcasting the game across the United States, Bosh gave basketball fans a splendid performance to take in. His 30 points and 10 rebounds spoke to that, with some of his baskets coming on turn-around jumpers with considerable artistic difficulty.
"We just weren’t good enough [on Sunday,]" Toronto coach Sam Mitchell said.
Given their performance Sunday, it is hard to believe that they would be good enough to beat the Pistons on any day. And they might find out if that is true sooner than they would like.
Forget playing at the same level as Detroit’s venerable starters; the Raptors got busted yesterday by the precocious Pistons bench. It wasn’t Chauncey Billups or Rasheed Wallace that beat Toronto; the damage was done by kids such as Rodney Stuckey, Jason Maxiell, Aaron Afflalo, Amir Johnson, Jarvis Hayes and a couple of veterans, Lindsey Hunter and Theo Ratliff.
The guys who broke open a tie game in the fourth quarter, in fact, averaged less than 23 years of age. They were the junior varsity, and they beat Toronto with ease. Billups told one Detroit reporter that the Detroit bench would probably be a playoff team, good enough that they wouldn’t face the second-seeded Pistons in the first round. He essentially said that the Pistons bench would be the sixth seed in the East.
And why wouldn’t he? Yesterday, that bench was better than the actual sixth seed in the East.
"Yeah, but I think in the third quarter, when they had their starters in, we did well," said guard Anthony Parker, reaching a little.
"If we come out and just compete hard, play physical basketball, and play good on offence and on defence, we can be a tough team to beat," Bosh said, reaching a lot.
"They’ve (the bench) matured, man," Billups said.
"They’ve been beating playoff teams the last couple of nights, beating teams that are really trying to scramble into position, playing their starters late and stuff like that. They’re getting some great, great experience right now."
"We did a lot of positive things today," Saunders said. "But like I told the guys after, we have to understand what our goals are and where we want to be. It’s not just about beating Toronto. It’s about winning a championship, and what we don’t want in these last few games is to start picking up bad habits."
Parker missed all three of his shots in the fourth and Delfino was 1-for-3. Ford scored six, but he didn’t have an assist. And Afflalo did all that despite slamming his left knee hard on the floor early in the fourth quarter.
The Raptors, playing their main unit down the stretch, missed 11 of 19 shots and never got any closer than six points.
Raptors coach Sam Mitchell was impressed.
"Stuckey and Maxiell are good players," he said. "Stuckey has turned into a really good basketball player. He really can get into that paint. We tried to keep them out of there, but some of those set really hard and good picks. Once they get into the paint, they are strong."
The Pistons scored 40 in the paint.
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Pistons Drop Raptors Into Tie For Sixth Spot In East
The Magic (50-30) said they have no preference who they meet in the postseason. Under oath, they probably would pick the young, rebuilding Sixers. Orlando won three of four games against them by an average of 12 points, but were routed once in Philly 101-89.
Although the Raptors have been struggling, they still have all-star Chris Bosh and a point-guard combination that can torture the Magic. Orlando won two of three from Toronto, also by an average of 12 points, but were blown out once at Air Canada Centre 127-110.
"It doesn’t matter who we play," Lewis said, "because where we want to go, you’re going to have to play the top teams in the East, anyway."
The group, led by rookie guard Rodney Stuckey, who scored 10 of his 18 in the fourth, outscored the Raptors, 26-21.
"I know I wouldn’t like that," said Billups, who scored 14 points. "To be playing for something and playing extremely hard and a team has their second unit in and you still can’t beat them — it’s tough.
"But we don’t have a regular second unit — we’ve got guys that can be starters on a lot of different teams."
There is still a chance that the Raps can avoid a sure 1st round loss to the Pistons . How ? By boycotting the playoffs because of China’s Tibet policy ! Ooops. Not likely to be accepted by Comm. Stern . It’s by actually playing really well in the last 2 regular season games so that they will hold on to the 6th position in the East. In such a case , the Raps will face the Magic . Easier opponent ? Even Magic’s coach’s bro , Jeff Van Gundy , thinks so. ‘ The Magic is not an elite team yet as it just lost this past week to the Timberwolves and the Knicks. ‘ The Knicks ? Any team which lost to the Knicks is certainly certified beatable. Bring on the Knicks’ loser , Orlando ….pronto! Psst, the Raps lost to the Knicks too last Feb.22 .
The Raptors didn’t play particularly bad in this game, sure they went all perimeter on you more than you like and gave up PG penetration way too easily and couldn’t rebound (44-33) when it counted but all thats to be expected by now. What’s sad is that we tried really hard to win this game and tried to play defense in the fourth quarter but still couldn’t beat the Piston bench. As I said before, it was humbling and further illuminated the distance between us and the Pistons.
What was really interesting about this game to me from a broadcast standpoint was that Brown and Jones were very up to speed on this Raps team. They clearly had watched this team play and could give an educated and objective breakdown on what was going on with the team today and all season long.
It’s not that we didn’t know that the Raps were bad rebounders, brutal at getting to the line, and weak on the defensive end on most nights. It’s just that we’ve never been told so bluntly. Having watched this game and listen to Hubie Brown talk about the Raps things just seem a little more clear.
What I learned is that this team simply just has too many flaws to expect anything more than a first round exit. Prior to this game I, like many of you were hoping for a first round match-up with Orlando. It’s been made pretty clear by Chuck that this is what the folks at MLSE would like as well. Well frankly, I just don’t think it matters any more.
Now this isn’t to say the Raptors didn’t play a great game, as even though they trailed for most of the game they were always in the game and as mentioned before pretty much shut down the Detroit starters. But the second units were the difference, with the Pistons bench scoring all their fourth quarter points and outplaying the Raptors starters on their way to giving the Pistons breathing room down the stretch, as six points was the closest Toronto could get in the second half of the fourth quarter. The consistency of the Pistons bench this season is definitely one of the reasons they sit where they’re at in the standings while the Raptors are mired in mediocrity with their inconsistent bench.
The Raps managed only 39 total points in the second half and they shot just 43% from the floor for the game. Aside from Chris Bosh’s 30 points and 10 rebounds, there were few bright spots for T.O.
Toronto was outrebounded; they gave up more points in the paint and fastbreak points; and the Pistons’ bench outscored the Raptors 2ND unit 48-18.
If the Raptors are going to have any success against Detroit in the future (i.e. – the second (or first?) found of the playoffs), they’ll have to find a way to get a win in the Motor City … a place where T.O. hasn’t won a game in 10-straight contests.
As it stands right now it looks like the Raptors will be facing either the Orlando Magic or the Detroit Pistons. Neither option looks very promising for the Raptors in postseason play.
There’s no shame in losing to the Pistons in Detroit. There is some shame, however, in losing to the Pistons’ bench in a game that might decide your team’s playoff destiny. Which is exactly what happened yesterday, when Detroit’s "Zoo Crew" outscored Toronto’s starters 26-21 en route to a 91-84 victory. The loss dropped the dinos into a tie with Philly for the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference. Another slip-up could drop the Raptors into the seventh spot and a first round date with the Pistons. Bum-bum-buh-buuuuuuuuum, bum-bum-ba-da-da-dum!
Being Canadians, the fans are probably just too polite to make any noise at all. Of course, swap the hardwood for the ice rink, and sportsmanship goes right out the mezzanine exit.
One of the things the Raptors got right yesterday was the start of the game. The Raps can not afford the slow starts they have been known for this season. The goal of these next 2 games should be to K.O the Heat and Bulls as fast as they can. The longer they hang around the more willing they will be to fight for a win. The Raptors are in a spot where they control their own fate thanks to the Washington Wizards who beat the Sixers and they have now lost 2 in a row. If the Raptors get a win tonight the pressure will be squarely on the Sixers as the magic number to finish ahead of Philly would be 1.
Sitting comfortably in the second seed in the Eastern Conference playoff race, the Pistons have absolutely nothing to play for as the regular season draws to a close. But that isn’t keeping them from winning. No starter played more than 25 minutes against the Raptors on Sunday and the Pistons till took a 91-84 victory, shoving Toronto into sixth place in the East – a horrible place for a team with a 16-24 road record. As it stands, the Raptors would be looking at a first round matchup against these Pistons. Well, not exactly these exact Pistons; they’d be a much, much better Pistons squad.
If the Raptors can turn Ford into a rebounding big man or superior wing player and open up the financial room to sign Calderon, they will make themselves better at two positions in one move.
A couple of days ago a Toronto Star columnist wrote an article telling Bosh to shut up and play because he was telling the fans to make more noise.
And me being me got upset by this. So I put the ghetto in the back pocket and pulled out some proper shit. This is what I ended up emailing to the mans:
Sheed and company had quite a few words with Mr. Delfino before the game, but no love for "The Gangsta." Looks like Primoz doesn’t get much play in Toronto either, he was a DNP.
I’m sure every Piston fan would love to see The Raps in the first round after this one.
Either the Detroit News’ spell checker doesn’t have an NBA team name filter or the Zoo Crew’s powers are reaching Biblical proportions. I hope it’s the latter!
Toronto has one of the premier low-post threats in the game in Chris Bosh. He will force Rasheed Wallace to focus defensively every possession. If Bosh is able to be effective in the paint and draw early fouls on Sheed, it will hinder Detroit’s ability to run its offense effectively. Without Wallace on the floor to go back at Bosh in the low post as well as provide spacing with his 3-point shooting, the Pistons could have problems.
T.J. Ford will be critical to establish Toronto’s transition opportunities, which are essential to avoid long possessions against the Pistons’ half-court "D." In addition, Jose Calderon’s size will come in handy trying to defend Billups in late-game situations. One final "must-have" for Toronto is effective 3-point shooting. Detroit makes every possession a war for survival. That means its opponent must be efficient offensively. Open looks are rare, so they must be taken advantage of. That will put pressure on Jason Kapono, Carlos Delfino, and Anthony Parker to make the Pistons pay for double-teaming Bosh.
While I have just presented the game plan for the Raptors, carrying it out against a team with this much playoff experience and balance will be too much to expect from a group that has had virtually no postseason success. The Pistons may be cruising right now, but they have several more gears under the hood.
The Toronto Raptors and Detroit Pistons feature two of the best backcourts in the entire NBA.
It should come as no surprise then that these are the two best teams in the NBA at taking care of the ball.
Since the NBA began tracking turnovers in 1970-71, only two teams have finished a season with an average of fewer than 12 turnovers per game: the 2005-06 Pistons (11.4) and 2002-03 Mavericks (11.6).
Then there was forward Jamario Moon, who was terrible in 18 minutes before coach Sam Mitchell gave up on him for the day. The rookie was 1-for-7 from the floor, including a bad miss on a dunk.
Andrea Bargnani was 1-for-6, Carlos Delfino went 2-for-7 and Jose Calderon could only find four points and four assists in 24 minutes.
"(Raptors coach Sam Mitchell) wanted to win the game, but we’ll put our guys in there against anybody,” Pistons veteran Lindsey Hunter said. "We’ve got a lot of confidence in those guys.”
And where would Hunter seed them in the playoffs?
"We’d be right in the middle,” he said.
Related posts:
“The Raptors have beaten only one winning team since Feb. 20 (the Pistons, at home on March 26)”
This is scary. There are not a lot of sub .500 teams in the playoffs, and we’re not going to face one in the first round.
Spudz’s last blog post..Earth Hour | March 29th 8pm
The fact is … the Raptors W-L record vs plus .500 teams is better with Jose Calderon starting and playing 35 (or more) minutes per game than it is when the PG duties are shared between Ford and Calderon.
khnador’s last blog post..Hubie Brown’s take: Toronto @ Detroit, 2nd Half