Quick Reaction: Raptors 100, Pistons 102
| Raptors | 100 | Final Box Score |
102 | Pistons |
F | O. Agbaji24 MIN, 0 PTS, 1 REB, 1 AST, 1 STL, 0-4 FG, 0-3 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -26 +/- Scoreless first half. He was a ghost out there tonight and his minutes and plus-minus reflected that. Agbaji looked completely lost out there in the fourth quarter as Scottie was directing him on where to be during a drawn-up play. Quiet possibly the worst game of his career, not just as a Raptor. Although I will give him props as his defence on the final shot of the game wasn’t bad at all. | |
B- | R. Barrett34 MIN, 17 PTS, 3 REB, 2 AST, 1 STL, 7-19 FG, 1-6 3FG, 2-2 FT, 0 BLK, 3 TO, -16 +/- 0/3 start from the field with two coming at the rim before finally getting on the board with a contact layup. Barrett’s first quarter was decent but the second quarter was one of the quietest, if not the quietest quarters of his Raptor career. He had a bunch of shots (19 to be exact) but it didn’t seem like he shot that many. His biggest shot of the game came around the two-minute mark to regain the Raptors lead with a three-ball and he also made a huge layup just a few possessions after that. | |
C+ | J. Poeltl28 MIN, 8 PTS, 11 REB, 2 AST, 0 STL, 4-11 FG, 0-0 3FG, 0-0 FT, 2 BLK, 2 TO, -13 +/- Poeltl got the longest rest out of the starters from their first shift to the second due to Bruno Fernando playing lights out. Passable first half but it wasn’t what were used to seeing lately out of Poeltl. This marks the end of Poeltl’s unbelievable run of form over the last few weeks, but still an ok outing. | |
A+ | S. Barnes36 MIN, 31 PTS, 14 REB, 7 AST, 1 STL, 12-26 FG, 3-8 3FG, 4-5 FT, 1 BLK, 1 TO, -2 +/- He was the most productive starter in the first quarter. Barnes made two back-to-back three-pointers in the second quarter to give the Raptors their first lead of the game and that sparked an unstoppable quarter, as he had 17 points alone in the frame. Barnes started the second half by winning the Raptors countless second-chance opportunities and kept it up all half. He left the game midway through the fourth quarter, limping off the court when substituted out, but luckily was able to return to the game. He missed two layups late in the game that completely missed the rim, but he was able to convert at the rim to tie the game at 100 with just a bit over twenty seconds left in the game. Easily the player of the game for Toronto. | |
C+ | D. Mitchell31 MIN, 3 PTS, 1 REB, 3 AST, 1 STL, 1-7 FG, 1-5 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, -13 +/- Back in the starting lineup after Gradey Dick’s injury left an open slot. Played almost the whole first quarter but was a ghost out there on the offensive end. Mitchell’s defensive intensity picked up in the second quarter and even more in the second half. After a scoreless first half, Mitchell got his first points of the game off of a corner three early in the third quarter. His defence and playmaking are usually his bread and butter but the playmaking was missing tonight. | |
A+ | B. Fernando14 MIN, 9 PTS, 4 REB, 5 AST, 0 STL, 4-7 FG, 0-0 3FG, 1-2 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, 13 +/- Back in the rotation tonight. Active first shift for Bruno as he was involved on the offensive end early. The pick-and-roll with Bruno was unstoppable tonight. Sadly he wasn’t able to get as many, if not any minutes in the second half as he was having the game of the season for himself. | |
A | C. Boucher22 MIN, 10 PTS, 7 REB, 0 AST, 1 STL, 4-9 FG, 1-4 3FG, 1-1 FT, 1 BLK, 0 TO, 11 +/- Decent first half but we’ve seen much better this season from Montreal’s finest. He got his second half going with a monstrous putback. He was able to follow up a Bruno Fernando miss at the rim with his second putback of the game and picked it up in the second half. | |
A | J. Battle22 MIN, 9 PTS, 4 REB, 1 AST, 1 STL, 4-9 FG, 1-5 3FG, 0-0 FT, 1 BLK, 0 TO, 20 +/- Great looking pull up midrange shot during his first shift. He made a tough floater in the second half which he created for himself, a move we rarely see from Battle. It’ll be nice to see if he makes that a more consistent part of his game, as for now he’s mostly just a floor spacer. Battle was able to once again convert on his signature move of faking a defender with his pump fake and hitting a side step three late in the third quarter. Battle had the best game of his young career tonight, which was shown by Darko having him out there as part of the closing unit. | |
B- | J. Shead17 MIN, 8 PTS, 2 REB, 4 AST, 1 STL, 3-9 FG, 2-3 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, 11 +/- Passable first half. Shead came alive in the second half, mostly late in the third quarter with two big triples but outside of that, it was nothing special. | |
B- | J. Mogbo12 MIN, 5 PTS, 3 REB, 1 AST, 0 STL, 2-3 FG, 1-1 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 2 TO, 5 +/- A banked three-ball from Mogbo in the first quarter got his game rolling. Mogbo’s energy picked up in the second quarter as he was active on both ends. After that he kept up the solid play for the rest of the game, mostly playing good defence and doing the dirty work for Toronto. | |
A- | Darko Rajakovic The rotations were mostly good and he won a challenge tonight. Darko did a great job of eliminating Agbaji from the rotation as much as possible in the second half as the bench was on a roll tonight. But one bad call from Rajakovic was not having Bruno Fernando out there as much in the second half. | |
Things We Saw
- It was a sluggish start that saw the Pistons jump out to a 14-4 lead in less than four minutes. The quarter was mostly dominated by Detroit as they held a double-digit lead for almost the whole quarter until the closing minutes, where the Raptors closed the lead to a respectable seven points.
- Toronto’s bench was lights out tonight as they were all above +5 tonight. Most notably Boucher, Fernando and Battle were having a night and were able to fill the minutes of Agbaji who really struggled.
- Yet another loss on the road. Toronto has yet to win away from Scotiabank Arena.
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