The Raptors welcomed back Andrea Bargnani on the court and did not have his shooting legs back as he had a 2 of 8 from the floor and ended up with 8 going 4 of 4 from free throw line but in the late second quarter the Raptors lost Jose Calderon to an ankle injury and will be out for a few games. This means that Jerryd Bayless will need to step it up while Calderon is sitting in a suit on the bench and will need to push the ball around and get the ball into the scorers hands so they get the points for the team and Bayless gets the assists. Then there is Gary Forbes who will need to give the Raptors good minutes so Bayless can get a breather and stay strong and Forbes will need to get the ball into the play makers hands as well.
The Raptors in the game did not come out to play and it showed as they shot very badly from the floor as they shot 39.7% (29-73) and even with no shooting touch they decided to shot from further from away as they put up 21 from beyond the arc and only made 5 of them. DeMar DeRozan had a tough night going 3 of 10 from the floor with Andrea back and at least there is a bright spot to his game tonight which was going 9 of 10 from the line and Arron Gray made 4 baskets from the floor which was tied for most on the team with Barbosa and Bayless along with Forbes.
The Pistons even though they played last night completely out worked the Raptors as they out boarded (39-33), out assisted (22-16), and because of weak Raptor D the Pistons hit 6 of 8 from beyond the arc in the first quarter and shot 61.5% in the first half and put up 61 points in the half lead by Brandon Knight who had 19 points which was all his points in the game while Rodney Stuckey had 16 of his 20 points in the half. The Pistons in the 105-86 victory outscored the Raptors in all of the first three quarters and had all their starters of Tayshaun Prince (10), Jason Maxiell (12 points), and Greg Monroe (11 points) joined Knight and Stuckey in double figures in points and even Jonas Jerebko had double digit in points with 13 points.
This Piston team is a team that Casey wants the Raps to become as they are now 11 and 6 since starting the season 4 and 20
Tom Mehegan
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