The Detroit Pistons logged an important 127-116 win over the Toronto Raptors at home on the second leg of a back-to-back
On Tuesday night, the Detroit Pistons’ injury concerns grew just a bit larger just as their record on the second leg of back-to-backs improved to an even more impressive level after their 127-116 division-clinching victory over the Toronto Raptors.
Entering the Eastern Conference matchup, the Pistons were already missing both Cade Cunningham and Isaiah Stewart, so the team suffered another blow when Marcus Sasser went down with a hip injury during the second half. During the fourth quarter, the Pistons announced that Sasser would be out for the rest of the game with his recurring hip injury, but Detroit already had the game well in hand by that stage.
After the game wrapped up, Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff spoke about his team's accomplishment by winning the Central Division.
“It is a big deal for our guys in this organization to get ourselves back in that position and in position to do more,” Bickerstaff said after the game. Because you can’t win at the level you want to win at if you don’t take those steps.”
As for their record on short notice, the Pistons logged another important win after last night’s overtime defeat at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Detroit has shown a remarkable ability to flush their rare off nights, and doing so without Cunningham in the lineup raises the difficulty level to another notch.
Without the All-Star starter available, the Pistons relied on Jalen Duren early and often. JD was responsible for nine of Detroit’s first 13 points to open the contest, and the big man delivered with a nearly flawless 31-point performance. From an efficiency standpoint, the Pistons couldn’t ask much more from Duren after his 12-for-13 shooting effort from the field, but the All-Star did them one better with a peerless 7-for-7 mark from the free throw line to boot. Duren just barely missed the double-double mark with nine rebounds on the night, but the fourth-year center left another concise example as to why he should be named the league’s Most Improved Player.
“We’ve found a way to just diversify and include everyone in the offense because of moving the basketball, moving our bodies and forcing defenses to have to take a different look,” Bickerstaff said.
Outside of Duren’s productivity, the Pistons punished the Raptors from the perimeter all game long, and their outside shooting was decisive in securing the double-digit win. The Pistons finished the game going 13-for-23 from behind the arc for a 57% mark, which is one of their better efforts from long-range this year. With the added three-point volume coming from Duncan Robinson (five connections) and co., Detroit was able to threaten the Toronto defense at multiple levels, and this variance was a key part of their 55th win this season.
With a victory tonight, the Pistons have shrunk their magic number down to two games. So, if Detroit can manage just a pair of wins over their final six contests, then the Pistons will have secured the one seed heading into the NBA Playoffs with home court advantage throughout the first three rounds.
Continuing with that macro view of Detroit’s success, the Pistons’ Central Division-clinching win tonight put the squad back into the winner’s position for the first time since the 2007-08 campaign.
Moving forward, the Pistons will have a day off before hosting the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday, April 2 at 7 pm.
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