FAST BREAKDOWN
Three quick reactions from Wednesday night’s 125-113 loss to the Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena
TROUBLE IN TORONTO – The Pistons played with fire for much of the first half, but they didn’t get burned until the second. After going 3-0 against the 2019 NBA champions a season ago in Dwane Casey’s first year with the Pistons, the Raptors struck back this time around. Within six at halftime despite nightmarish shooting near the rim and poor transition defense, the Pistons saw their deficit double within two minutes and nearly triple within four minutes as Casey called two timeouts in the first 4:11 of the third quarter. Casey made three substitutions at that point and got things stabilized, but the Pistons never really got back in the game. Pascal Siakam led Toronto’s third-quarter charge with 19 of his game-high 30 points. The fourth quarter became notable mostly for Casey giving Bruce Brown his first taste at point guard, likely to give Derrick Rose time off of his feet with the game pretty much out of reach. Brown showed good explosion on a couple of pick-and-roll drives, but couldn’t finish when he got to the rim on the first two, got stripped on another drive and couldn’t connect with Svi Mykhailiuk open for a corner triple on another. Mykhailiuk, seeing his first action of the season, hit 3 of 4 3-pointers in eight minutes. Andre Drummond wound up with 21 points and 22 assists after a big fourth quarter with the Pistons in scramble mode.
SOLID SUMMER – It won’t be fully visualized until the Pistons get healthy – Blake Griffin traveled to Toronto and all signs point to progress on his return timeline – but the free-agent signings Ed Stefanski’s front office executed last July look like a clear win for the Pistons. Markieff Morris is comfortable as a starter and that’s his role until Griffin returns, but he’ll give the Pistons more distinct matchup advantages off of the bench. Morris helped the Pistons stay within reach with 14 first-half points and finishing with 16 points and five rebounds. Derrick Rose continues to look like the steal of the summer as he rolled to a double-double before the end of the third quarter, finishing with 16 points and 10 assists in only 20 minutes. And with Reggie Jackson out, Tim Frazier is doing a commendable job of holding down the fort and allowing the Pistons to remain prudent with Rose. Frazier played 22 minutes, finishing with seven points and five assists. The Pistons shot less than 50 percent (24 of 50) in the paint compared to Toronto’s 30 of 42.
TRANSITION D MINUS – The Pistons fell behind in the first quarter, but it wasn’t necessarily about their offense this time around. They missed too many shots at the rim, but they were getting the kinds of shots Dwane Casey’s offense is designed to produce. The problem was they were lax in getting back on defense. When the Pistons took their first timeout with 2:22 left in the first quarter – they showed a video tribute to Casey at the break – they were trailing 28-20 and exactly half of Toronto’s points, 14, came in transition. The Pistons had committed three turnovers to that point and the Raptors converted them into six points, but that still accounted for less than half of Toronto’s transition points. They straightened it out after that, allowing only two more transition points in the first half and 23 total for the game. But it’s the biggest reason the Pistons were playing uphill throughout the half and were in position to let the game get away so quickly with Toronto’s third-quarter start. The Pistons had their turnover issue under control for the first half, but got way too loose with the ball after halftime and wound up with another ugly stat line: 19 turnovers for 29 Toronto points.