Andre Drummond and the Detroit Pistons completed a season series sweep of Dwane Casey’s former team, the Toronto Raptors.
The Detroit Pistons won another close game against Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors with a final score of 110-107.
Leonard struggled out the gate, missing his first three shots but then going off the rest of the game. The Claw finished the game with 33 points and 10 rebounds, on 11-21 shooting from the field and 5-8 shooting from beyond the arc.
Fred VanVleet contributed in his first game back in the lineup after missing 11 games. Vanvleet played 31 minutes and scored 17 points off the bench on 6-10 shooting from the field and 2-5 shooting from three.
The Detroit Pistons bench made the difference in this game, scoring a combined 39 points. In particular, Ish Smith brought a special type of energy that fans have grown accustomed to in his tenure here in Detroit.
Smith only had eight points, but also had eight assists and changed the pace of the game every time he checked in. On multiple occasions in the second half it looked like Smith was playing street-ball on the court. His creativity and fast paced style led the Pistons bench to all have a plus +/-, while the starters all were negative outside of Bruce Brown who was a +0.
Blake Griffin led the Pistons in scoring with 25 points. Griffin also had eight rebounds, three assists, and shot 9-21 from the field and 4-8 from three. Reggie Jackson contributed 20 points on 5-10 shooting from the field and 2-3 shooting from outside.
Drummond stole the show for the Detroit Pistons, as he finished with 15 points, 17 rebounds, two steals, and multiple highlight plays.
In the first half, Drummond sent former teammate Eric Moreland back to Toronto with a nasty poster dunk. Little Caesars Arena erupted after this play, as the Pistons had momentum swing their way.
Drummond also made arguably the play that won the game for the Pistons. With 1:11 left to play and the Pistons up by two, Drummond read a pass to Leonard across the court in the post and gambled to steal it from behind; leaving his own many wide open.
The play took major guts and great instincts to make, as he stole the ball and passed to Wayne Ellington for an easy layup to put the Detroit Pistons up by 4 with 1:07 to go.
The Detroit Pistons will sweep the Raptors in a season series for the first time in a decade, and will move to 36-33.
The Pistons will be at it again tomorrow against the Cleveland Cavaliers at 7:00pm.