FAST BREAKDOWN
Three quick observations from Wednesday night’s 106-104 win over the Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena
STORYBOOK RETURN – Dwane Casey’s homecoming came complete with a script Hollywood would have rejected for its sappiness. The Pistons spotted the 12-2 Toronto Raptors – the franchise Casey coached for seven seasons, fired last June and subsequently named NBA Coach of the year – a 19-point second-half lead but used a 23-9 run to start the fourth quarter to take a 100-97 lead with less than five minutes to play. It was tied at 104 all with 1.2 seconds left and the Pistons inbounding it under their basket when Jose Calderon found Reggie Bullock open just to the left of the rim. Bullock got the shot out of his hands in plenty of time to beat the buzzer and give the Pistons the signature win of the Casey era. The Raptors tied the game 100, but an Andre Drummond tip, a Pistons stop and a Blake Griffin jump shot with two minutes left put the Pistons ahead by four. Toronto pulled within two on Kyle Lowry’s layup with 1:06 to play, then pulled even after a Reggie Jackson miss on Kawhi Leonard’s short jump shot with 38 seconds to go. Blake Griffin’s contested miss from 10 feet gave Toronto the ball with 10 seconds left, but he kicked it out of bounds with two seconds to go. A first Pistons inbounds play from the sideline nearly produced an alley-oop basket for Glenn Robinson III, but Pascal Siakam recovered in time to block it out of bounds and set up Bullock’s heroics. Griffin finished with 30 points and 12 rebounds to power the Pistons.
THANK YOU, DWANE – Dwane Casey drew three standing ovations – once when he walked onto the court about 10 minutes before tipoff, again when he was introduced as Pistons coach during pregame player introductions and again at the first timeout at the 9:20 mark of the first quarter when the Raptors called to the sellout crowd’s attention a video tribute about to play on the center-court scoreboard. That one lasted virtually the entire minute-plus video and reached a crescendo as it ended with the words “Thank You Dwane” superimposed on the video. Casey coached the Raptors for seven seasons and left as the runaway leader in career wins with 320, more than twice the total of the runner-up, Sam Mitchell, with 156. The 59 wins Toronto won last season, when Casey was named NBA Coach of the Year, is a franchise record.
JOHNSON, GALLOWAY COME UP BIG – Dwane Casey diverged from his usual big man rotation in the second half when he came with Jon Leuer to replace Andre Drummond at center instead of using Zaza Pachulia. Pachulia replaced Drummond in the first quarter and played five minutes. Leuer came on late in the third quarter and was on the floor as the Pistons came back to within 10 points. He checked out with 9:10 to play and the Pistons within nine points. In seven minutes, Leuer gave the Pistons four points, four rebounds, an assist and a steal. Casey shortened his rotation to nine in the second half, bypassing Jose Calderon after Calderon played five scoreless minutes of the first half. Casey got big performances off his bench from Langston Galloway (13 points) and Stanley Johnson (12 points). Johnson hit two corner triples in the big run to start the fourth quarter. And down the stretch, Casey not only kept Johnson and Galloway on the floor but used them to guard Toronto’s two key players, Johnson on Kawhi Leonard and Galloway on Kyle Lowry. Johnson blanketed Leonard down the stretch, as big a reason the Pistons notched their biggest win of the season as any.