TORONTO — After a slow start, the Detroit Pistons threatened a comeback.
Toronto Raptors stars Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam ensured it didn’t happen.
The Pistons fell to the Raptors on the road, 119-118, after VanVleet led all scorers with 35 points and Siakam added 28. VanVleet, who also had eight assists, hit three 3-pointers in the first five minutes of the game as the Raptors built an early 12-point lead. He scored 20 points before halftime. Siakam took over from there, scoring 22 in the second half.
Two 3-pointers in the final 11 seconds by Jaden Ivey (18 points, seven assists) helped the Pistons outscore Toronto, 13-5, in the final 1:21 of the game and make the final margin closer than most of the fourth quarter reflected. Detroit trailed by 11 points with 2:48 to play.
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Bojan Bogdanovic led the Pistons with 33 points, and Alec Burks (21 points) and Hamidou Diallo (18 points, seven rebounds) both had strong nights off the bench. Isaiah Stewart scored in double figures, making 3 of 4 3-pointers and finishing with 16 points. Detroit was limited by turnovers, committing six in the first nine minutes of the first quarter and finishing with 16.
A layup by Chris Boucher gave the Raptors a 23-11 lead with three minutes remaining in the opening period. But Burks scored 11 points in four first-quarter minutes to power a 20-8 Pistons run that tied the game at 31 early in the second. Detroit took its first and only lead of the afternoon shortly before halftime, going up 51-47 following a layup from Stewart and three free throws from Bogdanovic. But Detroit trailed during the entire fourth quarter and final 10 minutes of the third.
Jalen Duren (six points, four rebounds) tweaked his right ankle with 7:20 to play in the second quarter after walking backwards into Raptors forward Precious Achiuwa and exited the game. He returned to start the third quarter.
Siakam helps Raptors take over in third quarter
Dwane Casey, who coached the Raptors from 2011-18, praised Siakam before Sunday’s game after taking a question from a Raptors media member. The 27th pick of the 2016 draft was recently selected to his second All-Star game. Casey acknowledged that while Siakam was an extremely hard worker, he didn’t expect him to reach stardom.
Sunday showcased why Siakam, who entered the game averaging a career-high 25.2 points, has become one of the NBA’s best scorers. He finished the first half with just six points on 2-for-9 shooting before finding his rhythm in the third quarter, scoring 11 points in the period to help Toronto take the lead for good. A 3-pointer midway through the period capped a 14-6 Raptors run that extended their lead to nine.
Siakam kept rolling in the fourth, knocking down his first four shots of the quarter en route to giving the Raptors a 14-point lead two minutes into the period. Siakam’s hot streak coincided with a cold stretch for the Pistons, who hit just six of 16 shot attempts in the third after closing the first half with a run and controlling most of the second quarter.
Wiseman’s debut delayed as Pistons await trade verdict
Many Pistons were eager to see James Wiseman, the Pistons’ trade deadline acquisition last Thursday, make his debut on Sunday. The Pistons, and Wiseman, certainly hoped that would be the case. But he was ruled “OUT” on the 1:30 p.m. injury report as the Golden State Warriors had yet to make a decision on the trade’s fate after Gary Payton II failed his physical on Friday night.
Thursday’s four-team trade, which saw former Warriors 2020 2nd overall pick Wiseman traded to Detroit and former Pistons Saddiq Bey and Kevin Knox sent to the Atlanta Hawks and Portland Trail Blazers, respectively, was still in limbo an hour before Detroit’s 3 p.m. game on Sunday. Per reports, the Warriors have until 9:30 p.m to make a final verdict on if the trade will be approved or voided. If it’s approved, Wiseman could make his debut in Boston on Wednesday before All-Star break.
It’s an awkward situation for everyone involved. Wiseman went through his physical on Friday, and was with the team in Toronto.
“It’s in the league’s hands now,” Casey said of Wiseman’s status before the game. “It’s going back and forth with the league. I’m not involved in that, that’s more of a Troy (Weaver) question. We really have to sit back and wait. It’s nothing that we’ve done or didn’t do, it’s really between Golden State and Portland. So we just have to wait. My thoughts are with the kids, with the guys. Saddiq Bey’s sitting in Atlanta. Kevin Knox is sitting in Portland. We have James sitting here with us who can’t do anything. Hopefully hurry up and rectify it and get it right because we gotta do right by the players.”
Contact Omari Sankofa II at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @omarisankofa.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Pistons’ late comeback falls short vs. Raptors, 119-118