The Detroit Pistons have an Eastern Conference showdown with the Toronto Raptors slated for 8 pm tonight.
Last night, the Detroit Pistons traveled to Oklahoma City for a cross-conference matchup with the defending champion Thunder and pushed the home squad to the absolute brink.
Playing without Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren, Tobias Harris, Duncan Robinson or Isaiah Stewart, the Pistons were significantly shorthanded from a depth standpoint last night, but Detroit fought valiantly despite the disadvantage and pushed the game to overtime. From there, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander showed why the Thunder are such a difficult team to overcome as SGA worked his way to a 47-point outing in what unfolded as a 114-110 loss in OT for the Pistons.
So, the Motown squad is looking to flush the remnants of last night’s result as they turn the page with a home game on the docket against the Toronto Raptors, and they’ll have more players available along the way.
After missing last night, the starting trio of Duren, Robinson and Harris are all listed as probable to compete tonight for Detroit, so that’s a major boost to the Pistons right off the bat. Ausar Thompson was listed as questionable before tip-off yesterday, but he carries no injury designation and should be good to go tonight as well.
However, those are not the only injury woes that the Pistons are dealing with after the guard pairing of Marcus Sasser (hip) and Caris LeVert (knee) both popped up on the injury report and are currently questionable to play against the Raptors.
On the other side of the matchup, Toronto has an important heel injury to Brandon Ingram that the Raptors will monitor leading up to tip-off, and the All-Star is currently listed as questionable for the time being. Similarly, forward Collin Murray-Boyles (back) is also questionable to play against Detroit.
Apart from that forward pair, the Raptors have a trio of players who have been ruled out already: guards Chucky Hepburn (knee) and Immanuel Quickley (foot) and Jamison Battle will be unavailable for the Eastern Conference Showdown.
Standing at 54-21, the Pistons have a four-game lead over the Boston Celtics for the one seed in the Eastern Conference with seven games remaining, so the magic number for Detroit is down to four. The Pistons seem committed to playing out the rest of the regular season with a mostly regular lineup so that the time keeps its rhythm heading into the postseason, though Detroit will have to work Cunningham and Stewart back into the lineup on the fly once they make their respective returns.
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