DETROIT — When the going gets tough, well, who knows where the Toronto Raptors are going.
Few teams are harder to get a handle on, even 75 games into an 82-game season.
The Raptors did so many things right on Tuesday night at Little Caesars Arena against the East-leading Detroit Pistons. But the big thing, winning?
By the end of the third quarter, they had earned an advantage in turnovers and points off turnovers (26-19) and created a significant edge in offensive rebounds (12-6), And in a tough, hard-fought game, they got themselves to the free-throw line more than the Pistons (25-22).
All are excellent indicators for success.
The more of those categories a team leads, the harder it is to lose. It helps, too, that the Raptors were facing a Pistons team missing their best player, as Cade Cunningham looked great roaming the sidelines in a multi-hued sweater, but he’s still weeks away from playing as he recovers from a punctured lung.
And the Pistons were playing on the second night of a slightly ridiculous back-to-back, having lost on Monday night in overtime in Oklahoma City, a game that didn’t tip off until 9:30 p.m. ET. They didn’t land in Detroit until sometime around 4 a.m. on Tuesday.
Granted, they had four starters resting against Oklahoma City with various ailments – Ausar Thompson, Tobias Harris, Duncan Robinson and Jalen Duren – but the rest of their roster and coaching staff could only be bleary-eyed.
But there is one statistical category that is pretty hard to work around, and the Raptors struggle with it regularly.
For all their efforts and all their determination to pressure the ball, the Pistons found a way to neutralize the Raptors’ pressure. They shot 10-of-17 on threes through the first three periods compared to the Raptors, who converted five-of-22 looks, most of them wide open.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before. But in the final analysis of what ended up a being a comfortable 127-116 win for Detroit – a spirited effort by the Raptors bench unit did cut Detroit’s lead from 23 to 10 with just under four minutes to play, but the last of Robinson’s five triples snuffed out that threat – it’s really hard to beat teams that shoot so much better than you.
That much was evident when the Raptors missed their first 12 field-goal attempts and trailed 13-3 after six minutes, and it was obvious again in the third quarter when the Raptors surrendered a 27-8 run that put them down by 23 with five minutes left in the period. The Raptors went three-of-11 and mixed in five turnovers as well in that defining stretch.
Together, that was the game: two stretches totalling 12 minutes where the Raptors shot three-of-23 from the floor.
“I think they started the third quarter pretty aggressively,” said RJ Barrett. “We tried to find some different things to try and slow them down, but they were able to work through it pretty quickly… and it’s tough. They made shots, man. It’s hard to beat a team that’s making shots.“
Especially if you’re not.
The Pistons shot 60.3 per cent from the floor, 56.3 per cent from three (13-of-23) and they made 26-of-30 free throws, too.
The Raptors? They were 10-of-29 from three (bumped up by them going five-of-seven in the fourth quarter), and they even had a hard time converting from the free-throw line as they went just 20-of-31 from the stripe.
The combination of the Raptors’ pressure and the Pistons’ ability to spread the floor created another challenge the Raptors couldn’t manage: a free-roaming Duren. The 22-year-old all-star was a menace all night. He started by being too quick, strong and fast for Jakob Poeltl to handle off the dribble in the halfcourt, and was too much for anyone to deal with in the paint. For his final bucket, Duren fairly casually stepped through a double-team by Sandro Mamukelashvili and Barrett like the other two large humans weren’t there.
“He’s a strong guy, man,” said Barrett. “I think the last game (a Raptors win in Toronto) Jak got the best of him (Poeltl had 21 and 18 against Duren) and I figured he was going to come in with extra motivation tonight, I think that’s all that was.”
Duren finished with 31 points on 12-of-13 shooting and made all seven of his free throws, too. Duren – already an all-star at age 22 and in his third season – has taken his game to another level in the nine games Cunningham has missed. The Pistons are 7-1 in the games Duren has played without Detroit’s lead guard, and he’s averaged 23.4 points on 69-per-cent shooting.
The Raptors weren’t able to get a super-human effort from anyone. Barrett came closest, as he continues to play through a painful left shoulder. He finished with 24 points on seven-of-12 shooting and was a live wire in transition. Scottie Barnes added 12 assists – his fifth straight game in double figures – but was just two-of-eight from the field and didn’t score a field goal in the first half.
His playmaking is a benefit, especially with Immanuel Quickley out for his fifth straight game due to plantar fasciitis and no sign of an imminent return, but the Raptors need his scoring punch too.
“(Brandon Ingram) just came back, so that changes the dynamics,” said Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic. “(Collin Murray-Boyles) missed a couple of games and now he’s back in the lineup. Usually, when that happens, we need a couple of more games just to co-ordinate. “
The loss saw the Raptors slip down to sixth place and the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, just one game ahead of the Philadelphia 76ers. The Raptors (42-33) have seven more games to figure it all out before things get tougher in the playoffs, or the play-in.
Now you see them, now you don’t
There was a slightly surreal scene pre-game at Little Caesars Arena as the video board was showing the G-League playoff game between Raptors 905 and the Motor City Cruise. Just six hours earlier, Alijah Martin and Jonathan Mobgo were on the floor at Little Caesars going through their morning shootaround in preparation to play the Pistons on Tuesday night.
But the Raptors called an audible. The pair returned to the team hotel, had lunch, gathered their belongings, and were in an SUV headed to Paramount Fine Foods Centre to play in the G-League contest by 12:30 p.m. Plenty of time to make it for the 7 p.m. tip, where they were on the big screen in Detroit.
Raptors big man Trayce Jackson-Davis was also available for 905. Alas, added reinforcements didn’t help as the 905 lost to the Cruise 120-105, ending their season in the first round after making the playoffs for the first time since 2022.
A.J. Lawson has been leading the 905 in scoring all season, but he stayed with the Raptors, a sign of the coaching staff’s growing confidence in the two-way player from Mississauga, Ont.
“I just think AJ is doing a great job. He checks all the boxes when he’s with us, and with our health being up in the air (Ingram and Murray-Boyles were game-time decisions with heel and back problems), I think there is a lot of value having him with us,” said Rajakovic.
Lawson was the first wing off the bench. He followed up his impressive 14-point, three-steal, two-assist outing on Sunday against Orlando with 13 points on four-of-five shooting (including three-of-three from deep) against Detroit, highlighted by a four-point play in the second quarter.
He was thinking of his G-League teammates.
“I texted the (905) group chat, telling them to go get that ‘dub,’” said Lawson before the game.
But he was eager to start getting some steady minutes with the Raptors. The last two games mark just the second time this season he’s got double-digit minutes in consecutive appearances with the NBA club.
“It’s a next-man-up mentality (when it comes to injuries), but I’m super happy that I’m one of the next mans up for sure. I just gotta come out here and be AJ Lawson and nobody else. Play hard offensively and defensively.”
Murray-Boyles finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot in his 24 minutes after he missed Sunday’s game with back spasms. His ability to change the game with his defensive activity is matched only by Barnes.
The Raptors were down by eight and hadn’t made a field goal when he checked in during the first quarter. He either directly or indirectly caused three Pistons turnovers in the next three minutes, either by pressuring the ball and forcing errant passes or forcing the offensive player into a travelling call or making him pull up his dribble, allowing his teammate to sneak in for a steal.
It’s like watching a pesky six-foot point guard hound the ball, except that Murray-Boyles is six-foot-seven and 250 pounds and can harass guards as easily as centres. It’s a remarkable thing.
“I’m just thinking about playing hard and running the floor,” he said after the game. “I think the biggest key to our win (against Orlando on Sunday) was our transition, how fast we got out. So was trying to bring that kind of intensity.”
