With the Detroit Pistons losing Jerami Grant, and Josh Jackson and the Toronto Raptors without Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby and others due to health and safety protocols, the battle ended who had the strongest squad. And Detroit won convincingly.
The Pistons started the game slowly, but it only lasted a few minutes. At the end of the first quarter, Detroit had scored 43 points and accumulated a six-point lead. And they never looked back.
Detroit overcame Toronto all night and was fueled by an incredibly balanced attack offensively. Nowhere was this more evident than Detroit’s sharing of the ball. Detroit made 48 shots in the night and 40 of them were watched. It was the first time that Detroit had 40 assists since 2008.
The leader of the scoring was Wayne Ellington, who was en fuego, scoring 25 points in just 11 shots. More importantly, his performance gave us a reason to bring back this work of art by the legendary Chris Daniels:
Both Dennis Smith Jr. and Mason Plumlee ended the game with a triple-double. Yes, you read correctly. Smith had 10 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists, and set an aggressive tone throughout the night. Plumlee had 14 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, with much of the attack going through him at the elbow, and Toronto had no answers all night.
Svi Mykhailiuk was pushed into the starting lineup and rewarded Dwane Casey with 17 points from 5-9 deep kicks, a kick performance that had to be a relief for the third-year point guard.
Rodney McGruder took many of Svi’s bench minutes in both and provided value in all sorts of different ways, ending the game with 20 points, six assists and two steals. Saben Lee joined McGruder off the bench and got another good performance, seeming to be in full control all night.
Norman Powell tried to keep the Raptors in the fight, but his 36 points were not enough.
Altogether, the Pistons reminded us how team basketball and extra effort can be successful overnight in the league. They continued their tendency to reach a ton of loose balls, overcoming the opponent on the glass and moving the ball and their bodies with high levels of intensity.
The level of talent is obviously not there, but Dwane Casey has his team consistently playing hard and making winning plays. This is the recipe for success for a franchise that seeks to build a successful culture.
Other thoughts:
- Plumlee executing the attack at the top of the circle was extremely successful with snipers around him. This keeps you out of long post-ups and takes advantage of your best skills. It may be a good way to get Jerami Grant out of his shooting crisis.
- Sekou Doumbouya had some good moves in the ring, but he continues to fight for three. In my view, your shot really does look better. But, it may take some time for him to find out if he is making mechanical adjustments.
- Give me this team that competes like crazy every day in the iterations we’ve seen in the last few years.
- The game ended so out of control that Deividas Sirvydas even had three minutes.