Defenseless Pistons stand little chance in blowout loss to Raptors

103. 81. Final. 89. 64

REGGIE JACKSON. D+. Jackson never looked engaged tonight and once Kyle Lowry started to get going, you could see the frustration take over. His shot selection wasn’t bad, but his ball security was horrendous with five turnovers. The thing about Jackson is that, while he can be productive on his own, he’s a VERY good player when the pick-and-roll game with Drummond is rolling. Unfortunately, good teams have caught up with the Pistons in that regard. The results have impacted both Jackson and Drummond, albeit more the latter.. PG. Pistons

Pistons. MARCUS MORRIS. A-. This may have been Morris’ best all-around game in weeks, and for good reason. He did a little bit of everything with 14 points (on 5-of-7 shooting) to go with six assists, five rebounds and three steals. He even put the clamps on DeMar DeRozan, who shot just 5-of-14. It’s a night like this where I wonder why Stan Van Gundy doesn’t decide to run his offense entirely through Morris for longer spurts. The Jackson-Drummond thing wasn’t working, go to the guy who was by far the best.. SF

C. It’s too bad he picked up that second foul late in the first half because his energy felt like a big reason for the Pistons strong start. He had 3 points and 7 boards at that point and he ended up finishing with 12 points and 13 boards — including this insane make from 3/4 court. But he and Baynes were demolished by Jonas Valanciunas and it seems good teams have all but bottled up the Pistons bread and butter, screen and roll offense, which hurts Drummond more than anybody.. C. Pistons. ANDRE DRUMMOND

ERSAN ILYASOVA. B. Nice bounce-back game for Ilyasova, who hasn’t shot the ball well recently. The problem is, if he’s the second-best guy in the starting lineup on any given night, the Pistons probably didn’t win.. PF. Pistons

C. Played hard, made some from 3-point range, but missed more. That’s been the description of Tolliver more often than not over the past month. If he’s not hitting, he’s just out there.. PF. Pistons. ANTHONY TOLLIVER

Defense and shot selection were poor, but Johnson did do a little bit of everything against the Raptors. He was benefited by having to guard Norman Powell, the one Toronto starter who wasn’t firing away.. SF. Pistons. STANLEY JOHNSON. D+

PG. Pistons. BRANDON JENNINGS. D. The Pistons got nothing out of the point guards tonight, and Jennings was a key reason for the bench struggles. When his jumper isn’t falling, he really isn’t all that big of a threat. He still doesn’t look good finishing and the pace is still so slow with the second unit. Likely because they aren’t getting stops and, thus, cannot get out and run.

C. Baynes wasn’t bad in a vacuum, but the entire bench was bad overall. He didn’t fare well against Valanciunas and had a couple of travels during the Pistons “run” early in the fourth. But, he did hit a few nice jumpers, rebounded well and showed some pick and roll chemistry with Johnson in the fourth.. C+. Pistons. ARON BAYNES

Pistons. DARRUN HILLIARD II. C. I like the spark he brings as a scorer. He’s done a good job filling the Jodie Meeks role that hasn’t existed this season. But he’s also been very Meeks-like on defense. That balance is hard to get out of a rookie — especially a second rounder — but if Hilliard can give the Pistons offense, that’s good enough for now.. SG

D. I don’t know who can dig this team out of its slumber — Stan the Coach or Stan the President. They are just horrible defensively. They played good defense for one quarter tonight, and then the Raptors took them behind the woodshed over the final three quarters. The defensive issues are a product of both the players and the coach. When the guys played hard early in the year, the defense was one of the 10 best in the NBA. They both need to figure this out, sooner than later, because tonight was just another sign that this teams is not ready — today — for the playoffs.. Head Coach. Pistons. STAN VAN GUNDY