The #Pistons took down the Raptors Monday night 108-98 in Jose Calderon’s first visit back to Toronto after playing his entire NBA career there before getting traded to Detroit. Despite the ten point difference in the final score, this game came right down to the last-minute of play.
Key Points:
- The Pistons started the game on a 14-3 run and it looked like they were going to cruse to victory , but the Raptors had other thoughts. Detroit roared back and came back after the Raptors took an 11 points lead in the second half.
- Great fourth quarter for Detroit who scored 33 points, none bigger than the Jose Calderon missed three pointer followed by a Jonas Jerebko put-back with 33 seconds to give the Pistons and 105-98 lead that sealed the win.
- What’s up with Rodney Stuckey who again put together a great game. Stuckey with 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting in 28 minutes off the bench for Detroit. Add the six assist and four boards and you wonder where he’s been for the last three or so seasons. Maybe he’s finally upping his trade value for the Pistons.
- It was an emotional homecoming for Jose who, like a lot of NBA players after being traded, almost walked to the wrong locker room at the half. The Toronto crowd gave Calderon the respect and admiration he deserved and he went out and put numbers for his new team. Jose finished with 19 points, 9 assists, a steal and a board with just one turnover in 43 minutes on the floor. Can we keep this guy please?
- It’s a shame for whatever reason Jonas wasn’t playing most of the year. Not sure what it was, but the heart and effort he’s show since he’s gotten back in the rotation is the Jerebko I remember. He was great on Monday finishing with 15 points, six boards, three assists and a +19 in the box. Now that’s a Need4Swede.
- Highlights via NBA.com
[flashvideo file=http://nba.cdn.turner.com/nba/big/games/raptors/2013/04/01/0021201100-det-tor-recap.nba_nba_576x324.flv /]
- Rudy Gay with a monster game for the Raptors putting up a game high 34.
- Charlie V with a quick seven points in 10 minutes.
- Andre played 19:43 minutes grabbing 4 boards with 4 points. Not the kind of night we are used to from the youngster, but it’s good to have him back on the floor.
- Greg Monroe led with e Pistons with 24 points, 4 assists, 4 boards and zero turnovers in 38 minutes on the floor. It may be premature, but I can’t wait to see what he plays like when Andre is the full time center. Not that I’m complaining about him now.
Photo Getty Images Editing Need4Sheed.com
- Jason Maxiell out for the season with a detached retina. Being that he’s a free agent after the season we may have seen Jason for the last time in a Pistons uniform without even knowing it.
- Khris Middleton is doing more than expected this season and taking advantage of his minutes. He finished with 11 points, and 4 boards in 24 minutes on the floor.
- Detroit shot 62% at the half but still trailed the ball game. One word…Defense!
- Bless those fans in Toronto who fill the building when the team is just as bad as the Pistons are.
- Next up the Celtics in Boston Wednesday night.
I love Brandon, but I feel like if we are gonna be successful he’ll need to play PG. Bigger SG’s give him too much trouble on defense
brandon has been good on defense at the 2, it’s not like some of these shooting guards can be perfectly guarded, all you can ask is to hinder their shot and never have to double, and Brandon can do that.
If you look at the stats on mysynergy for iso he was something like 400th last year, then last december he was something like 200th and now at the 2, he is up to somewhere around the 70th best iso defender in the nba.
He’ll do at the 2. Knight, calderon, monroe, drummond . . .
Singler is the weak link here, Prince gave us a really efficient offense and good defense which was much better than it looked which singler isn’t able to replace.
Hmm, you may be right, I just didn’t like what I was seeing when Derozan went iso on him. And Derozan isn’t even one of the best iso shooting guards in the league.
A lot of that is Frank’s defensive system high hedges sagging by the two guards
As for your Jonas V comments, the same can be applied to Drummond. Despite the fact that he has played all his games while healthy, I don’t see why bad teams feel the need to hold their young big men back.