Detroit 91, Toronto 84

Well that outcome was expected. The Raptors rarely win in Detroit and the way they have been playing the last month or so it was a good bet the Pistons would win. The surprising thing today was that it was the Pistons bench that did all the work. If the Raptors end up playing Detroit in the opening round of the playoffs, a serious message was sent today. Toronto can’t even beat the Detroit backups.

I hate to keep dwelling on it but can I just say how refreshing it was to watch the game on ABC. Hubie Brown broke the Raps down to exactly what they are many times and everything he said was right on the money. Now Leo from time to time will say similar things but how can you take a guy who has never coached in the NBA and wears an earring seriously?

It was a weird situation with the games on two channels. At least for me I found the look of the game better on The Score but their audio was horrid and of course you had to listen to Swirsk. Not to mention the two second delay when flipping back and forth. So for you lucky ones out there with two TVs in the same room you could not even watch The Score and listen to ABC.

Mark Jones has always been one of my favourite announcers so it was a real treat to hear what unbiased people had to say about Toronto.

Back to the game. I thought the Raps started out well with Bosh and Rasho getting good looks inside and T.J. was running the show well. No offensive boards or foul shots makes it tough to compete with Detroit but they were still in the game after one. I mean Detroit did not put up much effort, at least until their bench came in and dominated.

The missed lob passes were not needed and both would of been buckets with a simple pass instead. Like Hubie kept saying, it was a big game and baskets were key so leave the flash at home.

Bosh was having a solid game against a team he usually does not do well against. Again, Sheed was not really into it and eventually the Pistons just rotated every big they had on CB4.

What I have always liked about the Pistons game is they are excellent at finding a weakness and just going to it over and over. If they wanted to they could just post Ford up for the entire game and Toronto would be forced to sit T.J.

Calderon played decent as well but Detroit did a great job of keeping the ball out of his hands.

I was pretty disappointed at what Bargnani and Delfino brough to the game. Bargnani can’t throw it in the ocean and always looks scared and as hard as Delfino plays the end result is kind of minimal. He dribbled the ball way too much today, shot an air ball three and missed some layups. I would much prefer the ball out of his hands and of course Detroit could not of been happier with it.

The Raptors D had moments good effort and energy but on the whole it was the same old story. No stops when it mattered, poor closing out on shooters and no boxing out. Bargnani letting Billups get off a three to beat the clock stands out as a brain fart.

But the most important story in this game was the Pistons bench. They owned the Raps no matter who was on the floor.

Stuckey and Afflalo scored whenever they wanted, Maxiell put some sweet moves on Bosh and even Theo Ratcliff added to the game. By the way, why could the Raptors not pick him up? Shot blocker and rebounder up for grabs. Anyways.

I could only imagine what was being said on The Score broadcast. Swirsky must of been going nuts about the Pistons bench.

One of the other things that crossed my mind while I was watching the Pistons bench do whatever they wanted was this.

It was the perfect example why the Raps need a little more NCAA and a little less Euro. Joe Dumars knows how to find the diamonds in the rough when looking at the U.S. college game and I don’t see why BC and company can’t do the same.

How many of you Raptors fans would take the Pistons bench and add them to Bosh and call that the team you want to cheer for. Maxiell is one of my favourite players for sure.

So the Raps are back to 40-40 and holding on to that 6 spot only because they have the tie breaker with Philly.

Favourite line of the whole day had to be when Mark Jones mentioned the Raptors might be trying to posture to play the Magic. Hubie said basically when you wish for a preferred matchup you are out of the playoffs before you know it. I don’t think Orlando will be as easy as people seem to think. But I will agree I would want to play them before Detroit or LeBron.

The Raps have to win the last two and they avoid Detroit. If they don’t win both and get the Pistons in the first round expect a lot more of what we saw today and most likely a quick five game series. I would say sweep but Detroit never sweeps anyone, they get bored in Game 3.

Nice to see Jamario getting a lot of U.S. press and it was a treat to watch the game on ABC.

Until next time Raptors ballers.

Game Ball Chris Bosh

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