DETROIT – Both teams executed the blueprint for success that Dwane Casey introduced to each franchise. Toronto just executed it with a degree of proficiency that eludes the Pistons’ grasp at this stage of their developmental timeline.
It was to the great delight of Michigan’s Ontario neighbors, who made the trek across the border to express their devotion to the reigning NBA champions – a team transformed on Casey’s watch.
“Someday, we’re going to have a crowd like that,” Casey said after Toronto won its 10th straight game, a 105-92 win over the Pistons on Friday. “That’s what we’re building for. I’m not here to take all these Ls. We have some work to do. The only way you silence that is to win.”
Casey’s shot spectrum – emphasizing layups first and then a sliding scale of desirable 3-pointers, starting with those from the shorter corner distances – was evident in both teams’ stats.
But while the Raptors hit 67 percent of their 49 shots in the paint, the Pistons managed to make a mere 39 percent of their 36 shots from that space. The Pistons took 72 of 79 shots either in the paint or from the 3-point arc, 91 percent of their shots coming from those two spots. That was even better than Toronto’s total of 76 of 85 shots from those two preferred zones, 89 percent.
The Raptors just did it better than a Pistons team still sorely missing two central figures of their offense, Blake Griffin and Luke Kennard. Toronto shot 52 percent overall to Detroit’s 35 percent. The Raptors spent almost the entire first half playing zone defense and other than Svi Mykhailiuk – who hit 4 of 5 triples in the first half and scored 10 of his 13 points in the first quarter – nobody could make the Raptors pay.
“We missed some good shots,” Casey said. “Our second unit, I think we were 21 percent. We got some good looks against the zone.”
Derrick Rose finished with 21 points, going over 20 for the 14th straight time. It’s the longest streak of Rose’s career and the longest for any Pistons player since Jerry Stackhouse had a streak of 21 straight in 2001. Andre Drummond’s ninth 20-20 required a lot of heavy lifting late as he was scoreless with seven rebounds at halftime.
On the other side, Casey watched the players developed on his watch turn it on after the Pistons crept within six points late in the third quarter.
Pascal Siakam, the reigning Most Improved Player and one pushing into the MVP discussion, finished with 30 points on 12 of 18 shooting. Casey started him as a rookie and nurtured him from a high-motor defensive specialist to one of the game’s best two-way players. Fred VanVleet, who went from an undrafted free agent to a superb sixth man under Casey in two short seasons, finished with 16 points, eight rebounds and nine assists.
“It didn’t happen overnight,” Casey said of the Raptors’ transformation from the 23-win team of his first season to the 59-win bunch he left as NBA Coach of the Year in 2017-18. “We’ve got to have a plan to get our team in that position and that’s what we’re doing now. There is a plan.”
Mykhailiuk has emerged this season – and especially over the past month – as a big part of it.
“We’ve just got to keep playing,” he said after Friday’s loss, the fifth straight for the Pistons amid an injury-plagued season. “Just forget about this game. There’s a lot of basketball left to play.”
And he’ll be playing a lot of it along with the other young players who’ve assumed important roles. Christian Wood, Sekou Doumbouya and Bruce Brown are others – plus two-way players Jordan Bone and Louis King – Casey anticipates soaking up experience over the season’s final 30 games and then getting to work over critical off-seasons for their development.
“This summer’s going to be a huge summer for all of them to make sure they’re getting to this level,” Casey said. “Nothing replaces work.”
Doumbouya, after seven straight ineffective starts coming on the heels of his 24-point outburst in a Jan. 15 win at Boston, was a spectator for Friday’s loss because Casey sensed the NBA’s youngest player would be better served taking a step back.
“There is a plan for him,” he said. “It’s not because he did anything wrong. Just thought he needed to breathe a little bit, to sit back and watch. He’s going to get his time. I thought he hit a little wall. But there is a plan to develop these young guys. We’ve got to make sure we’re building to where this team is that we just played tonight.”
The guy who was the chief architect of that construction on the other side of the border is determined to hit the same high marks on this side of it.