Raptors bounce back, beat visiting Pistons
DeRozan, Lowry score 20 in Toronto’s 123-94 victory
TORONTO (CP) — DeMar DeRozan called Friday’s loss to the Milwaukee Bucks a game the Raptors needed in order to get back on track.
Toronto moved back into the win column on Monday by beating the Detroit Pistons 123-94, with DeRozan and Kyle Lowry leading the way with 20 points each.
“Not to make no excuse, but a game like last game, we kind of needed it to knock us back on track, especially coming off a break,” said DeRozan, who added seven assists. “We understand what we needed to do, what we need to get back to, and we did that tonight.”
Lowry added four assists and six rebounds while going 6-of-8 from three-point range as the Raptors (42-17) maintained a half-game lead on the Boston Celtics for first in the NBA’s Eastern Conference.
Pascal Siakam poured in 11 points, six assists and five rebounds in 24 minutes off the bench.
Andre Drummond led the Pistons (28-32) with 18 points and 18 rebounds. Detroit has now lost three straight and six of seven overall while falling three games back of Miami for the eighth seed.
Ish Smith had 16 points and three rebounds while Reggie Bullock finished with 14 points.
Jakob Poeltl drew huge cheers from those in attendance when he threw down a monster one-handed dunk on Drummond with 6:03 left in the fourth to give Toronto a 109-83 lead.
After allowing the Pistons back into the game to close out the first half, the Raptors responded by scoring 14 consecutive points early in the third quarter to lead by 20. Toronto led by at least 16 the rest of the way.