Detroit Pistons look to rebound against East-leading Toronto Raptors

The Detroit Pistons are in Toronto for a matchup with the East-leading Raptors on Monday night as they look to bounce back from yesterday’s stinker.

The Detroit Pistons (28-31) should be thankful they get a chance to erase the stink from yesterday’s demoralizing loss against Charlotte just a day later. The problem is that stink may be about to get worse, as they take on the Toronto Raptors (41-17) on the road tonight.

The Raptors are sitting in first place in the Eastern Conference and are an NBA-best 24-5 on their home court at the Air Canada Centre. Detroit, who’s 9-18 on the road, will be heavy underdogs tonight, especially considering this is the second leg of a back to back.

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The Pistons have come out of the All-Star break flat. They lost to Boston at home by 12 on Friday and were destroyed by Charlotte yesterday afternoon. Detroit may have only lost to the Hornets by 16, but they went into halftime down 24 and trailed by 32 points early in the fourth.

The Pistons have lost five of their last six games, this directly after winning five in a row immediately following them trading for Blake Griffin. That puts them at 28-31 with 23 games to go, 2.5 games behind the Miami Heat for the eighth playoff spot in the East.

Detroit’s chances are dwindling by the day, and it won’t be any easier tonight. If the Pistons do figure out a way to defy the odds and claw their way into the playoffs, it’ll likely only be for a short series with these Raptors.

Toronto has been off since Friday, where they lost 122-119 to the Bucks at home in overtime. Prior to that, they’d won seven games in a row heading into the All-Star break.

The Raptors are led by All-Stars DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry in the backcourt.

DeRozan is averaging 23.9 points, a career-high 1.2 three pointers, and a career-high 5.2 assists per game. Lowry averages 16.6 points, 6.5 assists, 5.7 rebounds, 1.3 steals, and 3.0 triples per game.

These two are joined by rookie OG Anunoby, Serge Ibaka, and Jonas Valanciunas in the starting lineup.

Toronto is also very deep, having gotten great production from a slew of young bench players all season. It’s not uncommon for them to roll with an 11-man rotation; with C.J. Miles, Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, Delon Wright, Jakob Poeltl, and Norman Powell all contributing off the bench.

When they stick to 10 guys, it’s been Powell who gets the DNP-CDs of late.

Next: Pistons Playbook: Three Point Defense

The Raptors beat Detroit 96-91 in Toronto back on January 17.

This is matchup number two, with games three and four coming in Detroit on March 7 and April 9, respectively.

The Pistons and Raptors tip off at 7:30 p.m. ET from Toronto.

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