Detroit Pistons Fall Short Against Toronto Raptors

     The Detroit Pistons lost Wednesday night against the Toronto Raptors 110-99. It was the Pistons' second game in two nights, and it showed in the second quarter where they were outscored 44-28.

     The Raptors' Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani killed the Pistons on the offensive end, with a combined 47 points. Detroit could not seem to keep Bosh off the line, as he went 15-20.

     The Pistons three guard combo saw heavy action again, with Tayshaun Prince and Richard Hamilton out. Will Bynum and Rodney Stuckey both had some upsides and downsides. Stuckey got into foul trouble early and only managed 13 points on 18 shots, but he did snag ten boards.

     Bynum showed some more of his sensational moves as he burned the Toronto defense on his way to the basket multiple times. His plus minus might be a concern though as the Pistons lowest at negative 14.

     Ben Gordon rounded out the trio with another superb game totaling 30 points, four assists, and shooting over 50 percent. He scored in multiple ways, draining a few threes, hitting runner after runner, and setting up other players.

     Charlie Villanueva had his best game of the year posting 16 points, seven rebounds, and one really nice block from behind on Bargnani. He seems to be getting better and better with each game which is really good news, now we just need to see some consistency out of him.

     All three rookies played, and two saw significant minutes. Austin Daye was given his most playing time yet at about 17 minutes and looked good. He did make a couple rookie mistakes early on with a three second violation and a walk under the basket. He had a good fourth though, with a coldblooded three early, as well as two blocks, one of which he didn't even have to leave his feet.

     Jonas Jerebko got the start again at small forward. He had a hard time when matched up against Bosh, but that is to be expected from a rookie. He did turn in a decent offensive performance scoring eight points on 3-3 shooting and managed two blocks. He also made his first three as a Piston in the final minute of the second quarter.

     There was even a DuJuan Summers sighting. He only saw 40 seconds of play at the end with the game far out of reach. I'm actually surprised we haven't seen more of him with the injuries that have hit the Pistons.

     The Pistons just didn't have enough left to give in the fourth and hit a wall with six minutes left. They were able to tie it at 93-93 but Toronto went on an 8-0 run and Detroit couldn't come back.

     On a side note Coach Kuester might just be a mad scientist with his line-up combinations. At one point he had the three guards, Jason Maxiell at power forward, and Austin Daye at center. This group actually managed to give the Pistons the lead right before the six minute wall.

     The Pistons head down to Orlando Friday, for a rematch against the Magic. The Magic are going to look to break their Pistons curse thats seen them go 0-4 in the last four meetings. Hamilton and Prince still might be inactive for the game.