Pistons use fourth-quarter rally to beat Raptors
TORONTO -- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored five of his 21 points in the final minute and the Detroit Pistons overcame a 16-point fourth-quarter deficit to defeat the Toronto Raptors 102-101 on Sunday night.
Toronto's DeMar DeRozan missed a 17-foot jumper at the end of the game that would have given the Raptors a victory.
It was the 10th loss in the past 14 games for the Raptors (32-23).
The Raptors led by 16 points entering the fourth quarter but the Pistons reduced the margin to three on a put-back by Detroit's Andre Drummond with 3:17 to play.
After each team missed a chance, Kyle Lowry put Toronto ahead by five points on driving layup with 1:23 left.
Drummond made one of two free throws with 1:19 to play and Toronto's lead was down to four.
Caldwell-Pope made a 16-foot jumper and followed it with a 3-pointer with 13.2 seconds leftto give the Pistons a one-point lead and complete the scoring.
Tobias Harris led Detroit (26-29) with 24 points off the bench. Ish Smith added 15, Marcus Morris and Stanley Johnson had 11 each and Drummond scored 10 points and grabbed 18 rebounds.
DeRozan led Toronto with 16 points, Jonas Valanciunas had 17 points and nine rebounds. DeMarre Carroll and Lowry added 15 each.
The Raptors led 27-25 after the first quarter paced by DeRozan's 10 points.
The Pistons scored the first seven points of the second quarter to lead by five.
The Raptors went on a 19-2 run to take a 12-point lead, and Toronto took a 51-46 advantage into the intermission. DeRozan had 12 points and Carroll 11. Harris led Detroit with nine first-half points. Drummond had four points and 10 rebounds in the first half.
The Raptors opened a 13-point lead two minutes into the second half when Jakob Poeltl made a hook shot.
The lead was 16 with 5:44 to play in the third quarter when Lowry made one of two free throws.
The Pistons reduced the lead to eight with 2:10 left in the third when Harris scored on a layup and made a 3-pointer on the next possession.
DeRozan finished the third quarter with a turnaround, fade-away jumper to give Toronto an 82-66 lead.
Johnson's 3-pointer with 8:34 to play cut Toronto's lead to 10 points.
Morris hit a jumper to reduce the lead to eight with 7:59 left and Drummond's layup had it down to six.
DeRozan made two of three free throws with 5:43 remaining to stretch the lead to nine. But Harris connected on a pair of free throws and Smith hit on a floating jumper to trim the margin to five points.
NOTES: Raptors F Patrick Patterson (left knee contusion) missed his fourth straight game Sunday after being injured Feb. 3 at Orlando. ... Toronto recalled F Bruno Caboclo, F Jared Sullinger and G Fred VanVleet on Sunday from the Raptors 905 of the D-League. Sullinger, who missed the first 41 games of the season because of left foot surgery, had 16 points and 10 rebounds in a rehabilitation game with Raptors 905 Saturday. ... Toronto also recalled G Delon Wright from Raptors 905 Friday. ... The Raptors defeated the Pistons 109-91 in Toronto on Oct. 26. The teams meet twice more, both in Detroit, March 17 and April 5. ...The Raptors' next game will be against the Chicago Bulls at the United Center on Tuesday. ...The Pistons will play the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.