Raptors overcome fourth-quarter deficit against Pistons
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Serge Ibaka had 17 points and nine rebounds and the Toronto Raptors rallied from a nine-point fourth-quarter deficit to down the Detroit Pistons 87-75 on Friday night at The Palace.
The Raptors finished the game on a 24-3 run. The Pistons scored just three points in the final 9:20.
Toronto shooting guard DeMar DeRozan, who entered the game as the NBA's fifth-leading scorer at 27.1 points per game, supplied all of his 14 points in the second half. DeMarre Carroll contributed 12 points, Norman Powell had 11 and Jonas Valanciunas added 10 for the Raptors (40-29).
Reggie Jackson's 20 points and six assists led the Pistons (33-36), who have lost three straight. Tobias Harris tossed in 14 points, Jon Leuer chipped in 12, and Andre Drummond added eight points and collected 22 rebounds before fouling out.
DeRozan scored his first field goal, a layup, with 8:29 remaining in the third quarter to give Toronto a 47-44 lead. DeRozan's second bucket, a jumper, stretched the advantage to seven.
The Pistons regained the lead at 59-58 on a Caldwell Pope 3-pointer. Leuer's putback as the third-quarter buzzer sounded nudged the Pistons' lead to 66-60.
Detroit's lead eventually grew to nine, but Toronto made its run. P.J. Tucker made a 3-pointer to cut the Pistons' lead to one and Powell's layup with 4:40 remaining gave the Raptors a 75-74 lead. Another Powell layup made it 79-74 with 2:57 left.
DeRozan was held scoreless on 0-of-4 shooting from the field before halftime, but the Raptors still emerged with a 40-38 lead.
Both clubs shot 34.1 percent from the field and the first quarter was particularly ugly. They combined to shoot 28.2 percent and commit nine turnovers.
NOTES: Detroit C Andre Drummond reached 5,000 points for his career with a third-quarter dunk. The 23-year-old became the second-youngest Pistons player to reach that milestone behind Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas. ... The Pistons have lost two straight home games after winning 13 of their previous 16 at The Palace. ... The Raptors are now 7-9 on the second game of back-to-backs. ... Toronto coach Dwane Casey was pleased that the players held a meeting after the 21-point loss to Oklahoma City on Thunder. "Any time you can vent out and talk about what's going on and what's not going on is good," he said. "With that has to come action." ... Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy is wondering if he's taking it too easy on his players. "We've given them a lot of rest, as much as we can," he said. "We may have to go a little bit the other way to try to get them going again."