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Jay Satur - Raptors.com
It Was Over When....
There were literally busloads of fans from all over Ontario at The Palace for this one. They were loud from layup lines and stuck around late for one last rendition of O Canada (more on that below). But despite the home away from home court advantage, the Raptors started slow against the Pistons and couldn't contain the league's 29th-ranked team in terms off offensive efficiency in the first quarter.
But as has been their pattern, the Raptors clawed back by halftime and proceeded to come out of the locker room with renewed purpose. The tone was physical and the result was a 26-9 run in the third that turned the game on its head and fueled one of the Raptors' more emotional wins of the year.
“We understand that you get a reset," Kyle Lowry said of the Raptors' mentality at halftime. "You get a chance to kind of start the game over and put our effect on the game big time. That’s just what we’ve been doing and coach has really made our adjustments at halftime and we’ve been going from there.”
The Game Changer
Impressive performance from Jonas Valanciunas, who stepped up in that decisive third quarter with 11 of his team-high 17 points (on 4-5 shooting from the floor) and five of his seven rebounds. As you can see below, the pick-and-roll was working well on Friday for Valanciunas, who's now averaging 13.3 points and 11.3 rebounds per contest over his last seven games (mobile users click here).
The Underrated Raptor
The entire "White Squad" was tremendous in the win, as the Toronto bench outscored their Detroit counterparts 59-41, but James Johnson provided two signature moments in Friday's victory.
First was his posterization of Drummond mid-fourth quarter, a legit Dunk of the Year candidate that Raptors play-by-play announcer Matt Devlin called one of the best power dunks he's ever seen live (mobile users click here). If you get the chance to watch the extended version, please do, and watch as Amir Johnson is legitimately floored by the play.
Needless to say, Drummond wasn't inclined to see a repeat and when presented with an opportunity to stop another Johnson drive. The Pistons' centre promptly applied a little excessive force with a forearm shiver that sent Johnson to the deck, earned Drummond a Flagrant 1 and saw several other players earn technical fouls for the ensuing melee.
No hard feelings from JJ (I think?) in an absolutely all-time classic post-game interview.
That's A Rap
"It's unbelievable. I've always said we have the best fans in the league and this trip alone really proves it. The buses that came down and really, they "out-cheered" -- if there's such a thing -- Detroit's crowd. My hat's off to our fans, we have the best fans in the league." - Head coach Dwane Casey, on the incredible commitment and energy from traveling Raptors fans. Watch as these fans continued to celebrate at The Palace post-game (mobile users click here)
By The Numbers
14-4 - Raptors record against Eastern Conference teams
400 - Games played with the Raptors by Amir Johnson, just the seventh player in franchise history to do so
12 - Consecutive home losses for the Pistons. The win was the Raptors fourth straight vs Detroit.
60-50 - Points in the paint favouring the Raptors
22 - Biggest lead of the night for the Raptors in the 2nd half. They had trailed by as many as 11 points in the first half.
They Said It
- Landry Fields after his scary spill in the third quarter against the Pistons. Great to hear he's feeling better after a reported eight stitches to his head.
"Our second unit did an unbelievable job tonight- Pat (Patrick Patterson), Lou (Williams), G (Grievis Vasquez) came in and gave us great minutes. It was a great group effort tonight." - Kyle Lowry, on the play of the Raptors' bench
"I've seen it before. It happened in Miami when I was coaching there and the Knicks fans would come in and take over our building."- Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy on Raptors fans at The Palace
Up Next
It's the final home game of 2014 and next to last game before a brief Holiday break when the Raptors host the New York Knicks at Air Canada Centre in a Sunday matinee (3:30 PM ET, Sportsnet, FAN 590)