RAPTORS 112, PISTONS 91
Didn't think I'd be typing this at halftime, when the Toronto Raptors trailed the average-at-best Detroit Pistons 54-50, but this was a quite enjoyable game that provided plenty of entertainment. Raptor fans got to watch another showcase of Jonas Valanciunas' potential, Kyle Lowry continue to prove himself as a top-flight Point Guard, but, most importantly, we got to watch a team that will be, for the most part, centred around Josh Smith and Brandon Jennings; high-level humor.
- Jonas Valanciunas kept throwing his pump-fake, and the poor Detroit defenders just kept falling for it. It was really quite comical. I love to get carried away when Jonas has big games like this, I acknowledge that, but this was a great, fun performance from the Lithuanian. With DeRozan struggling, it was nice to see Jonas get the team going with his play to start the second half. I'm still sold on the fact that Jonas will be an absolute beast Center, and it's awesome to see his game developing with leadership like this.
- The 75 seconds to start the second half really were perfect. If I were Dwane Casey, I would have had a fair crack at the team at half time, so the response was extremely positive. Terrence 3. Amir huge block. Demar transition layup. Detroit shot clock violation. Terrence 3. 8-0 run. 54-50 Detroit becomes 58-54 Toronto, and we're then playing from the front. This set the tone for a terrific half on both ends of the floor.
- A big contributing factor to the first-half struggle was the three-point shooting, I feel. Taking 11 three-point shots in the first quarter alone seems a touch unreasonable; sure, some of them were dropping, but a lot of these were not good looks, and the team seemingly feel into a rhythm of relying on the three. The three-ball is fun, but I'd like to think we can come up with a lot better offense than that.
- I don't see a lot of potential for the Detroit franchise right now. Call me overly negative, but Josh Smith and Brandon Jennings are fundamentally selfish, and take really awful shots. Drummond and Monroe is a cool front-court duo, but they both looked poor on defense. Drummond showed his ridiculous free-throw technique, too, which provided endless laughs. Josh Smith shot 3/9 at the line, got angry at the refs and his teammates, and showed, to me, what an overrated player he really is. By all means prove me wrong Detroit, but I don't see that team going anywhere at all.
-Brooklyn. Milwaukee. Boston. Minnesota. LA Lakers. Charlotte. There's 6 very winnable games coming up. If we're the third best team in the Eastern Conference, we're winning 5, if not 6 of these games. We've done so brilliantly in our recent tough stretch (think of our wins at Dallas, Oklahoma City and Indiana) and our schedule is now levelling out; time to start racking up the wins.
PLAYER VOTES
3- JONAS VALANCIUNAS (16pts, 7/9FGs, 11rebs, 2blks). Terrific performance, threw down 4 dunks that made Raptor fans across the globe collectively lose it. Some nice defensive involvement, too.
2- KYLE LOWRY (21pts, 4/9FGs, 9/9FTs, 9asts). Sign. Him. Up. Kyle is getting paid this off-season. Can we get him to commit long-term, and keep bringing this energy and commitment on a nightly basis? We can only hope.
1-TERRENCE ROSS (17pts, 6/13FGs, 5/10 3PTs). Eh. He made a lot of threes. He also took a truckload of them, so he'd want to be making a few. I like Terrence shooting with confidence, but shooting 10 threes just seems a bit over the top. Hope he doesn't forget he is a freak athlete who should use his gifts to get to the rim with ease.
NEXT- DRAKE NIGHT. Enough said.
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