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No margin for error as razor-sharp Raptors make Pistons pay for every mistake in 14-point loss

If the Toronto Raptors had been wearing Washington Generals jerseys, the Harlem Globetrotters would’ve been in deep trouble Monday night. The Pistons certainly were.

“I thought we competed really hard. I didn’t think we made an inordinate amount of mistakes, particularly on the defensive end,” Stan Van Gundy said after the 103-89 loss to a team that’s won 14 of 15. “But I do think what happened is every mistake we made at both ends, they made us pay for ’em. If we left a guy open – boom. It was a three. They made it. If we turned it over, they scored. I think they played extremely, extremely well.”

Van Gundy has been anguishing over Pistons defense lately – not merely execution, but a wavering focus and intensity. But the Pistons were stout out of the chute against Toronto, holding the Raptors to 19 first-quarter points and building a nine-point lead when rookie Darrun Hilliard hit the first two baskets of the second quarter.

But the Raptors hit their first seven shots of the quarter, including five triples – by four different players, no less – and took the lead for good at 38-36 on the last of those five threes.

“More frustrating than probably just not playing at all,” Reggie Jackson said of the dispiriting quality of Toronto’s offensive precision. “We came out with the effort, came out with the way we wanted to play. That misdirection really got us and all they needed was a split second and that ball was hopping. They really made us play. We felt it was a closer game that just got out of hand.”

The Raptors lean heavily on scoring from their All-Star backcourt, Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan. But Marcus Morris was draped all over DeRozan and Jackson was battling Lowry tough in the first half, limiting them to 13 points on a combined 3 of 13 shooting. But their teammates picked up the baton, the bench especially damaging to the Pistons. In the first half, Raptors not named Lowry or DeRozan made 15 of 22 shots. Of Toronto’s 30 second-quarter points, 17 came from the bench on 5 of 7 shooting from the 3-point arc.

Every little opening, the Raptors exploited.

“For sure. Every time,” Morris said. “Like, every time. A couple of times I went under screens. That’s what a good team does, though, when you mess up. When you make mistakes, they make you pay for it.”

The loss obscured a superb game from Morris, who scored 14 points despite being limited to seven shots as the Raptors doubled him when he got post touches. Morris didn’t force anything, though, passing out of double teams to lead the Pistons with six assists. DeRozan finished with 17, but Morris was responsible for very few of those points.

“I thought Marcus played really, really well,” Van Gundy said. “The problem we had was we couldn’t get him a ton of shots. They did two things. They really loaded up on all of Reggie’s pick and rolls, forced him into a lot of turnovers, where I thought maybe he was forcing the issue a little much. And they came and doubled all of Marcus’ post-ups. Game plan was good and their execution of it was good. They really took those two guys and made it difficult. Marcus was very efficient; we just couldn’t get him a ton of shots.”

Lowry got away from the Pistons in the second half, doing a lot of his damage when he was playing off the ball with backup Cory Joseph running the point. Van Gundy was forced into an unfavorable matchup, using Hilliard against him for stretches. The injury that cost Kentavious Caldwell-Pope his third game was especially damaging to the Pistons in this one against a backcourt with three high-level playmakers.

The loss left the Pistons a mere half-game ahead of Charlotte, which dominated injury-riddled Chicago, for the final playoff berth. The teams are tied in the loss column. But Van Gundy was more upbeat after this loss than perhaps any of the 26 the Pistons have absorbed so far this season.

“I thought our guys competed their (backsides) off on a very tough night and at times very frustrating,” he said. “I thought they hung in there and fought really hard. When I worked for Pat Riley, he used to say that his job was to tell players the truth as he sees it. That’s what I try to do. And I think the truth tonight was our guys competed hard. Toronto played great. Took advantage of every mistake.

“We’ve got to get better. I’ve got to get better. Players have got to get better. But I don’t leave here tonight upset at our team. If we bring that kind of effort every night, I don’t think people are going to make all those shots every night and I think we will shoot the ball better and we’ll be in games and have a chance to win. I’m not discouraged about tonight.”