The Toronto Raptors are on the verge of joining the Cleveland Cavaliers as the only Eastern Conference teams to reach 40 wins to date this season. But will that accomplishment come at the expense of the Detroit Pistons, who are on the outside looking in of the conference’s playoff picture?
Read on for more about this game. You can also check out our breakdown of Heat vs. Knicks.
How about them Raptors? The Raptors managed to extend their win streak to four games by taking down East leader Cleveland on Friday, 99-97.
Kyle Lowry was pure fire in that game with the Villanova product dropping 43 points with nine assists and five boards against Cleveland. It’s not a safe bet to expect another such outing from Lowry tonight against Detroit, but he’s shown in the previous two meetings with the Pistons that he is very capable of taking over on offense. Lowry scored 18 points in Toronto’s 111-107 win against Detroit on January 30 and followed that up with a 25-point performance when the Raptors subdued the Pistons on February 8, 103-89.
Lowry’s backcourt mate, DeMar DeRozan, meanwhile, is looking to rediscover his shooting touch, after going just 1-for-11 from the field against Cleveland. He might just get it going again later tonight against the Pistons, which is allowing opposing guards to come up with 42.3 points per game. DeRozan had 29 points in the first meeting this season with Detroit.
Toronto is 7-3 SU and 5-5 ATS in its last 10 trips to Auburn Hills. The Raptors are averaging 101.0 points per road game this season.
The Pistons are starting to pick up steam again. After a bad five-game losing skid, Detroit has won three straight outings, including a 102-91 triumph in Milwaukee on Saturday.
Reggie Jackson has been superb of late. He put up 22 points against the Bucks to raise his average to 22.4 points over Detroit’s last five outings. Jackson, however, has scored just 13 points in each of the previous two meetings with Toronto, so he’s going to need help from the likes of Andre Drummond and trade deadline acquisition Tobias Harris for scoring support. Drummond hasn’t fared well against Toronto this season either, averaging just 11.5 points and 12.5 rebounds in the two games versus the Raptors, but is coming off a morale-boosting performance in the Milwaukee game, wherein he recorded 15 points and 17 rebounds.
Harris, meanwhile, has definitely carved out a role in the Pistons’ rotation, as the ex-Orlando Magic is averaging 17.6 points on 50.7 percent shooting from the field in his past five games.
Detroit outrebounded the Raptors in the previous matchup by a wide margin, 47-39. The Pistons particularly dominated the offensive rebounding battle, pulling down 11 as against Toronto’s two.
The Pistons are 3-0 ATS in their last three games overall.
