10:20pm Eastern
Call it Toronto’s “get out of jail free card”.
After Washington knocked-off Philadelphia on Saturday night, the Raptors had a half-game cushion on the Sixers in the standings and with the tiebreaker against Philly as well, Toronto knew they’d still be in 6TH regardless of what happened against Detroit on Sunday afternoon.
The Raps kept things close right up until the final quarter, but Rodney Stuckey and Jason Maxiell came alive in the 4TH to lead the Pistons to a 91-84 victory.
The loss dropped Toronto back to .500 – sitting at 40-40; the same record as Philly. However, the head-to-head battle favors the Raps, so the Eastern Conference seeding didn’t change.
The Raptors will now host the Heat at the ACC on Monday. If T.O. can beat Miami – and get some “help” with Cleveland beating the 76ers, Sam Mitchell and company will officially clinch 6TH in the East. Otherwise, the battle for that slot will come down to the final game(s) of the season – on Wednesday – when Toronto takes on Chicago and Philly battles Charlotte.
Though most of the players and coaches don’t want to say it, it seems like clear that nobody in the organization wants to have to deal with the Pistons in the 1ST round of the playoffs. And Detroit showed why on Sunday.
Stuckey had 10 of his 18 points in the final 12 minutes as he sliced and diced his way into the heart of the Raptors’ “D” time and time again. Toronto had actually tied the game at 65 early in the 4TH quarter, but their run fell well short in the final 5-6 minutes.
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.
E. Smith
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i watched the abc feed and noticed mark jones doing the play-by-play. is this the 1st time the jones brothers did a play-by-play for the same game? how cool would it be if the raptors were covered by the jones’ in an nba finals!
and btw paul jones wins hands down over mark with the call and the enthusiasm!
listening to hubie’s comments
1) the raps should’ve blown out the 2nd unit by 20
2) too casual during transition
3) pistons are simply allowed to get in the paint
you would think hubie is the coach of the raps… no wonder mitchell gets paranoid sometimes.
seems like only bosh, rasho and the pg’s are playoff ready… i hope we do NOT see barg and kapono at the same time on the court again this season.
lets go Raps!
- SidThey lost to the Pistons bench, who were basically practicing. The Pistons had nothing to play for…. and still won.
Also, I don’t want to see Bargnani on the court anymore. I dislike pretty much everything about his game. I’m beginning to think he’s a bust.
- DavidHubie mentioned it COUNTLESS times.
The Raptors could get easy baskets at will against the Pistons, yet they settled for jump shots that weren’t falling.
After the first Q Sam Mitchell said the defense played “well” yet the Pistons shot 70%. Smitch, are you watching the same game were watching?
- Brandon in TorontoDavid, I guess they don’t call it sophomore slump without reason. Next season will either confirm or bust those fears.
Former Raptors often have crazy-intense games when they play us (Charlie V, Mo Pete, etc.). Too bad Delfino wasn’t able to carry the momentum of Friday’s game over and do the same to the Pistons, though I don’t think effort was the problem.
- EllieDidn’t watch the game yesterday because I already knew the outcome.We just don’t play tough enough against Detroit.I think we give them way to much respect and lose before we get on the court.Someone once told me that you can lose a fight by being intimidated by the way someone looks,and I think this is what happens with the Raptors when they play Detroit.Detroit is a very solid team and I still cannot believe that we beat them a week ago.Honestly if it wern’t for the beating we would have to witness I think Detroit would be the best opponent for the growth of the Raptors.But man would that be ugly to see.
- marioGo Raptors!!
Andrea will play well in the 1st round and we will win the series.
- jinEric, When commenting on Jose’s defense yesterday. You used to word “Suspect” I would have to say that with the exception of the elite teams in the nba Lakers,Detroit Boston. All guards on other teams are not all peaches and cream when it comes to defense. Team defense or strong offensive play will mask a guards week defensive ability. I have seen T.J ford exploited by bigger and more skilled guards as well. Therefore I don’t think that too much should be made of Calderone’s defence. On another note I think that way to much is being made of T.J ford’s so called quickness, Personally I think that his quickness is not really a controlled type of quickness, there has been many times where when trying to use his quickness to beat the defender it results in a turnover or a missed easy layup. I would have to say although Chris Paul is quick he demonstrates a very high basketball I.Q which is why his numbers are balanced. Finally when seeing Charlie V, the other night I
- alexandershook my head because Im thinking that he has so much uoside. Many seem to forget that he was runner up to the rookie of the year. Consider some strange moves by calangelo. 1. All the redundencies at the two spot none of them elite #2′s2.Trading a runner up in rookie of the year, a low post player, which are very coveted in this league. For a undersized point guard with injury problems. 3. Drafting a 7 footer that can’t play the post. We need an elite #2 most elite 2′s in the league have killed us. Parker, Kapono, and delfino are not starters in this league.
TJs speed makes up for his deficiency.
The problem is, he gets abused regularly by unknown guards, he gets into 1 on 1 battles with his friends or enemies and occasionally will hold onto the ball for 20 seconds before throwing up a fade away jumper.
THANKFULLY, we’ll only have to watch TJ for a playoff series or two because he’ll be traded in the off-season for a useful player.
- Brandon in Toronto