The Detroit Pistons are the unofficial NBA champs after sweeping the Toronto Raptors last season. Here’s how they stack up in 2019-20.
Two of the predominant storylines last season were that the Warriors were a lock to win the title and that MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo was going to become the face of the NBA and lead the Bucks to the Finals.
The Toronto Raptors didn’t get the memo.
After beating Orlando, the Raptors needed seven games and a four-bounce shot against Philadelphia to get to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they calmly took care of the Bucks in six. The Raptors were heavy underdogs again in the NBA Finals, but they just kept winning against the depleted Warriors behind the brilliance of Kawhi Leonard, who put on an All-Time great playoff performance. The Raptors took on the league’s best and they beat them all.
But they couldn’t beat the Pistons.
Detroit went 3-0 against the NBA champs in three close games led by All-NBA power forward Blake Griffin. The games were well played on the floor and included off the floor subplots like Dwane Casey’s return to Toronto, where he was unceremoniously fired after winning Coach of the Year. The Pistons rallied around their coach in all three games, enacting some measure of revenge on his former team. Casey was clearly emotional after the buzzer beater in Toronto and it was one of the highlights of Detroit’s season to win one for their coach.
The Raptors went into the offseason hoping to retain their star and it didn’t work out, so it was back to the lab for Masai Ujiri, who always seems to keep Toronto competitive. The Raptors had a lot of off season question marks, but not a lot of answers.