Pistons 101, Raptors 85

Eleven's Heaven

The Pistons won their 11th consecutive game Friday, but Toronto put up a respectable showing for three and a half quarters. Before the game was five minutes old, every starter for both teams had scored, with Detroit leading 14-10. When the offenses cooled, it was advantage Detroit as the Pistons built a 48-39 halftime lead.

Andrea Bargnani scored 12 of his game-high 25 points for Toronto in the third quarter, and the Raptors appeared ready to make a game of it, trailing 69-64. Rodney Stuckey had other ideas. The Pistons' rookie was a one-man show in the opening 90 seconds of the fourth, quickly putting Detroit back up nine. Chauncey Billups (18 points, nine assists), Rip Hamilton (22 points) and company closed it out from there.

Stuckey and Jason Maxiell (11 points) led a Detroit bench that outscored Toronto's reserves, 25-5.

BILLUPS: “We’re definitely satisifed with how we’re playing right now, I mean, who wouldn’t be? Eleven straight games, that’s an amazing feat in this league, a lot of great players, a lot of great teams, so yeah we’re definitely happy about that.”

The story of the game in Pistons red, white and blue

– Okay, Hamilton has been "white hot" for seemingly forever. (Remember when people were wondering about his "slow start"?) But when you don't miss a shot in the first half -- 4-for-4 from the field and 2-for-2 from the foul line -- how do you displace him? Hamilton was the model of efficiency, scoring a team-high 22 points on just 11 shots from the floor (8-11 FGs, 6-6 FTs).

For long stretches, Hamilton wasn’t even the Pistons' first mode of attack, especially early. Rip's four field-goal attempts in the first half were fewer than the seven shots taken each by Billups and Prince, who frequently attacked their respective defenders, Jose Calderon and Jamario Moon, on the drive or in the paint.

BILLUPS: “I wanted to attack him (Calderon) early because he keeps the ball in his hands on those pick-and-rolls, and he can wear you out a little bit, so I wanted to let him know he wasn’t going to run free. He’s going to have to pay the price on the other end and I wanted to be real aggressive early, set the tone.”

Blue Collar – Rasheed Wallace had trouble in the first half with Toronto's talented big men. He made one 3-pointer but had three fouls and two turnovers. Wallace, however, didn't melt down -- as Pistons fans once feared. Instead, he stepped up, scoring 11 of his 20 points in the critical third quarter, helping the Pistons withstand the Raptors' best punch.

When Barngnani hit a 3-pointer to open the third, Wallace responded by pounding Bargnani in the post a for a turnaround layup high off the glass, then knocking down his second triple to put Detroit ahead 13.

When the Raptors went on a 6-0 run, Wallace ended it by attacking the paint – which Wallace is often criticized for not doing enough – and drew a foul on Chris Bosh. He also had a nifty running hook shot for Detroit's next score, and completed their third-quarter scoring with his third 3-pointer.

Wallace put an exclamation point on the victory with two more 3-pointers in the final 66 seconds, completing a 5-for-7 night from beyond the arc. He was the primary reason the Pistons topped the league's top 3-point shoooting team at its own game, shooting 8-of-16 (50 percent) from 3-point range. The Raptors were 5-of-13.

To boot, Wallace's triple with 1:06 left elevated him to No. 6 on the all-time Pistons list in 3-pointers made, surpassing Isiah Thomas.

Red Flag – Between Chris Bosh (23 points and 16 rebounds) and Bargnani's scorching 10-of-16 shooting night, the Raptors displayed a pair of 7-footers who can score from virtually anywhere -- which even a top defensive team like Detroit can have trouble stopping. They combined for 18 of Toronto's 25 points in the third quarter, which was sparked by a Bosh reverse dunk. Bosh and Bargnani pose difficult matchups, but not impossible ones. The Pistons held Bargnani scoreless in the fourth, and Bosh shot 9-of-21 for the night.

Downer for Delfino – Like any athlete who is traded, Carlos Delfino probably would have liked to make the impression that the Pistons made a mistake when they shipped him to Canada soon after the 2006-07 season ended. He did not make the impression he intended.

Coming out of a timeout midway through the second quarter, Delfino missed two layups, one in traffic and another that he rebounded at the defensive end and tried to take coast-to-coast. Delfino finished the game scoreless, missing all four shots he took. Jarvis Hayes, the Piston who has assumed most of Delfino’s old role, had eight points on 3-of-5 from the field, including 2-for-2 from 3-point range, all in the second quarter.

Turnovers pay off – Bosh committed Toronto's first turnover of the game at 3:52 of the second quarter, knocking the ball off his own leg. It came in the midst of a 9-0 Pistons run that allowed Detroit to turn a two-point game into a 48-39 contest at halftime. Even when the Raptors seemed to play perfect ball, the Pistons made them pay for the slightest flaw. Detroit (11.8 tpg) and Toronto (12.1) average the fewest turnovers in the league, and they took even better care of the ball Friday, combining for only 11 miscues. The Raptors had only four turnovers to Detroit's seven – but two of them came on Stuckey’s steals early in the fourth, helping seal their demise. In fact, the Pistons scored nine points off Toronto's four turnovers; the Raptors scored only eight on Detroit’s seven.

Stuckey breaks out – In the first 90 seconds of the fourth, Stuckey extinguished any sense that the Pistons’ win streak was in danger. He picked up a bobbled Toronto pass, led the fast break in traffic and found Prince on his left for the flush. Next possession Stuckey was running the point and found Maxiell open on the baseline for another dunk. When Raptors backup Juan Dixon got in trouble the next trip down, Stuckey just took the ball from him and went the distance, forcing a Raptors timeout with the Pistons back up, 75-64. When asked if that knocked the wind out of Toronto’s sails, Stuckey said, “Absolutely.”

Minutes later Stuckey would add two free throws and drain a jumper from the elbow, giving Detroit an 83-70 edge. In 18 minutes, Stuckey had a +/- rating of plus-12, with eight points, six assists and two turnovers.

STUCKEY: “I’m comfortable, this is what I do. You can’t show fear on the court. If you see that (fear), your defender or the other team will take advantage of you. Every game, every practice I come out with confidence and I’m just trying to get better every day.”

BILLUPS: “He brings a dimension to our team that we really need – a guy like him coming off the bench, attacking, getting to the basket. We got a lot of jump shooters and he can shoot the jumper, but he’d prefer to get in there, get some contact and get to the basket and by physical. Defensively he was great, so it’s just the start for him. I’m excited about what he’s going to be able to do.”

Toronto was in the same position as most of Detroit's 10 previous victims – down double digits early in the third quarter – and, to their credit, responded better than any of them, slicing the deficit to five points. But Stuckey's outburst seemed to be the breaking point. The rookie proved his worth Friday like never before, and it could be a turning point in his development this season.

Now it's back to The Palace for the only home meeting with the Celtics, who have won eight straight since their Dec. 19 loss to the Pistons. A combined 53-10 record with 19 consecutive victories on the line? A Pistons-Celtics game in Detroit hasn’t been this anticipated in a long time.