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Detroit Pistons face Raptors in Dwane Casey’s return to Toronto

By Edward Zilincik

TORONTO, ONTARIO- MARCH 18, 2018:Toronto's Kyle Lowry and Oklahoma's Corey Brewer react in amazement as Toronto coach Dwayne Casey is ejected from the game late in the fourth quarter in a raucous ending involving a number of Raptor ejections.The Toronto Raptors hosted the Oklahoma City Thunder a the Air Canada Centre Sunday afternoon and lost 132-125.LUCAS OLENIUK-TORONTO STAR (Lucas Oleniuk/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ONTARIO- MARCH 18, 2018:Toronto's Kyle Lowry and Oklahoma's Corey Brewer react in amazement as Toronto coach Dwayne Casey is ejected from the game late in the fourth quarter in a raucous ending involving a number of Raptor ejections.The Toronto Raptors hosted the Oklahoma City Thunder a the Air Canada Centre Sunday afternoon and lost 132-125.LUCAS OLENIUK-TORONTO STAR (Lucas Oleniuk/Toronto Star via Getty Images) /
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Detroit Pistons head coach Dwane Casey returns to Toronto for the first time since being fired by the Raptors. They hold the best record in the east.

The Detroit Pistons will travel North of the border on Wednesday night. Detroit (6-6) will be taking on the NBA’s best team record wise in the Toronto Raptors (12-2).

Toronto, who last season finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference and a franchise record 59 wins, has been energized early by the addition of superstar small forward and lock down wing defender Kawhi Leonard.

Toronto started the season 6-0, but then dropped a game at Milwaukee on October 29. After that loss, Toronto ripped off another six in a row, before Monday night when they laid an egg at home against the New Orleans Pelicans.

Emotions will surely be running high for both sides in this one as Pistons head coach Dwane Casey will be coaching his first game at Toronto since being fired by the Raptors in May.

This will be the first meeting between Raptors new head coach Nick Nurse and Casey. Nurse spent the previous five seasons under the tutelage of Casey before his dismissal and Nurse’s promotion last spring.

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The Detroit Pistons are coming off another disheartening home loss at the hands of the Charlotte Hornets. Detroit and Charlotte were in a nip and tuck game in the first half, but Charlotte exploded out of the halftime locker room with a 49-30 advantage over the first 17 minutes of the second half, essentially sealing the win for the Hornets.

Since starting 4-0, Detroit is a paltry 2-6 with some very disenchanting losses to mediocre teams like the Nets, Heat, and Hornets.

Detroit appeared to be finding their footing before Sunday, winning two straight at Orlando and Atlanta following a five-game losing streak.

What to Look For

Andre Drummond. He has been an animal this season.This has to make Piston fans extremely happy with how good Drummond has been playing this season.

This holds true not only for their current team, but if things go sour again this year,  Detroit front office adviser Ed Stefanski will have a valuable player to trade this February if he wishes to do so.

On Sunday, Drummond became the first player since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the 1975-76 season to record five or more 20-20 games in the first 12 games of the season.

The only issue is Detroit isn’t turning these huge games into wins. They are 2-3 record in games where Drummond has at least 20 points and 20 rebounds.

Also for the Detroit Pistons, Blake Griffin has fallen on hard times of late, shooting 1-10 from behind the arc and 6-26 from the field in the last two games. Griffin is only averaging eight points per game during this stretch as well.

On the other hand for Toronto, Kawhi Leonard is averaging his highest points per game output since averaging a career high 25.5 points per game in the 2016-17 campaign with the Spurs.

Leonard also comes into the game averaging a career-high 7.7 rebounds per game.

Toronto comes into the game averaging 117.4 points per game and shooting 48.6 percent from the field, good for fourth and second in the NBA respectively. Toronto is additionally top-six in the NBA in opponent field goal percentage at 44.3 percent.

On the negative side for Toronto, the Raptors are down near the bottom for 3-point percentage, shooting 34.5 percent, good for just 20th in the league.

Injuries

The Detroit Pistons received some positive news on Tuesday. The team announced that Luke Kennard is progressing well in his rehabilitation of his right shoulder injury, but will be out an additional two weeks.

Reggie Bullock returned from his ankle injury last week in Detroit’s win over Orlando. Bullock finally started to show some of the promise he had last season in Sunday’s loss against Charlotte, scoring 23 points on 6-9 shooting from behind the arc.

Meanwhile for Toronto, C.J. Miles is listed as out for Wednesday’s game and Norman Powell is out 4-6 weeks with a shoulder sprain.

Game Day Information

  • TV: Fox Sports Detroit
  • Radio: 97.1 The Ticket (Pistons Radio Affiliates)
  • When: 7:30 p.m. ET
  • Where: Scotiabank Arena (Toronto, Ontario)
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