NBA – Despite 35 points from Fred FanVleet, the Raptors had all the trouble to dismiss (119-118) the Pistons.
Thanks to a hot Fred VanVleet at the start of the match, Adrian Griffin’s men (Nick Nurse was absent for personal reasons) already took a 12-point lead (23-11) after 9 minutes of play. Alec Burks revived the Pistons on his own, and Toronto fell back into his ways, failing to approach the circle.
The Pistons blocked access to the racket and, in this configuration where they must register jumpshots, the Raptors suffered.
Leading by a small point (53-52) at halftime, Toronto still made up a small gap thanks to Fred VanVleet, who took advantage of the good screens of Jakob Poeltl. Except that Bojan Bogdanovic had not said his last word.
The Croatian constantly managed to find breaches and it was only when Pascal Siakam put his head on the balcony, in the fourth quarter, that the match seemed to be definitively tilted in favor of the hosts. Still missed because Bojan Bogdanovic and his comrades blew in the neck of the Raptors until the last second (119-118).
WHAT YOU MUST REMEMBER
– The Pistons’ defensive strategy almost worked. Offensively, Detroit remains particularly limited, but by locking access to the circle, they really annoyed this Toronto team, which lacks shooters to punish the assists under the basket. The Raptors found a few solutions, but it was slow.
– Constant suffering for Toronto. Even when they are clearly better than their opponents, and their 3-point skill is correct (37%), nothing is easy for the Raptors this season.
TOPS/FLOPS
✅ Fred VanVleet. Hot from the outset, he then cooled (35 points and 8 assists in the end). But fortunately he is there to bring outside threat into the game of the Raptors.
✅ Bojan Bogdanovic. 33 points at 10/18 in shooting and still this false-slow attitude, with this ability to outpace his opponents more in the change of pace than by acceleration.
✅⛔ Pascal Siakam. His perfect start to the fourth quarter saved his game (28 points, 6 assists) because, before that, he had been rather well contained by the Pistons’ defensive strategy.
⛔ Killian Hayes. The Frenchman is not helped by Jaden Ivey’s passes, which are not always gifts, at the end of possession or in delicate positions. But that doesn’t explain everything. Another match where he was horribly clumsy (2 points at 1/10 shooting) after his 1/11 against Spurs in the previous outing…
THE FOLLOWING
Toronto (27-31) : Magic reception, Tuesday evening (01:30)
Detroit (15-43) : trip to Boston, Wednesday evening (1:30 a.m.)
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