Fans get money’s worth as Pistons score OT win
Raptors show all-out hustle after slow start in game that meant much more for Detroit
In the grand scheme of things, the result meant little to the Toronto Raptors.
But you wouldn’t know it the way they played after an initial slow start.
In another well-worth-themoney game, the second in a row from the Raptors, this one went down to the wire and then some before the Pistons pulled out a 112-107 OT win that was every bit as entertaining as the Raptors’ win over Portland a few nights earlier.
Whether it was Kyle Lowry flexing his way back down the floor after a tough bucket against contact, or OG Anunoby getting after loose balls like they were dipped in gold, the want-it factor in this game was ridiculously high from Toronto’s perspective. It did not feel like a run of the mill early March NBA game.
The Pistons, before the game, were in position to be Toronto’s first-round playoff opponent.
But Detroit’s win pushed them up into sixth place in the Eastern Conference and dropped Brooklyn to seventh, thereby putting the Nets in that playoff partner circle for the time being.
Of course, we’re a long way from set playoff pairings.
Lowry took his game to another level as his 35 points were a season high and just eight shy of tying his career mark. Lowry had just 10 at the half and then went off on a tear in the second half.
Blake Griffin had 27 points to lead the Pistons, who have now won nine of their past 11.
Detroit led by 13 points in the opening quarter and didn’t trail until Marc Gasol made a three-pointer with eight-plus minutes left in the third.
LOAD MANAGEMENT DOESN’T FLY IN DETROIT
Just the suggestion that some in-season rest (what is commonly referred to in NBA circles these days as load management) might be good for certain individuals on his team had Dwane Casey objecting before the question could even be completed.
“No, no, no. We’re playing,” Casey said. “You got your uniform on, you’re playing. You’re getting paid twice a month and we’re here to make the playoffs. Toronto has a different issue, they’re fighting for something else, we’re fighting to get in.
“All our guys, if they want to give Mr. Gores (Detroit owner Tom Gores) back some of his money for taking those days off, that’s one thing, but we’re here on a mission and trying to create something. We’re in different places as far as so-called load management.”
Suffice to say, Casey wasn’t totally against load management as a concept on this particular day. It did save him having to game plan and account for Kawhi Leonard, who missed his 18th game of the season.
CABOCLO UPDATE
Toronto basketball fans who paid attention when Bruno Caboclo made his periodic appearances on the active roster, or even on the Raptors’ bench, would not recognize the young man today.
Gone is the skinny 18-year-old who was like a deer in headlights when he was drafted. In his place is a filled out 23-year-old who has the confidence to know he has turned a corner in the NBA.
“You look at his body now and the way he’s filled out, he looks like an NBA player,” former Raptors assistant coach and 905’s head coach Jerry Stackhouse told the Memphis Commercial Appeal recently.
“He doesn’t look like the kid I had three years ago.”
With Memphis, which recently ripped up his 10-day contract and bestowed a two-year deal on him, Caboclo has already played more NBA games this year than he had in any other season.
In 16 games with Memphis, Caboclo has made four starts and is averaging 21.4 minutes, contributing 6.4 points per game.
But his biggest contributions, according to Stackhouse, are on the defensive end where his wingspan has made him able to switch onto just about any position on the floor when need be.
With the Grizzlies, he’s being used primarily as a power forward and even a centre as opposed to the small forward he played with the 905s.
PAU GASOL SIGNS WITH THE BUCKS
Pau Gasol signed with the NBA-leading Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday, two days after the 38-year-old Spanish centre reached a buyout agreement with the San Antonio Spurs. The twotime NBA champion and sixtime all-star averaged 4.2 points, 4.7 rebounds and 12.2 minutes in 27 games for the Spurs this season, his 18th in the NBA.
Gasol has played 1,223 career games with Memphis, the Los Angeles Lakers, Chicago and San Antonio. He is one of four players with over 20,000 points, 11,000 rebounds, 3,500 assists and 1,500 blocks in his career, along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett.
The seven-footer helped the Lakers win titles in 2009 and 2010.