It was an absolutely bizarre weekend for the Toronto Raptors. On Friday, they were completely lousy and underachieved in a 103-87 loss to one of the worst teams in the NBA, the Detroit Pistons. Then on Saturday, they looked marvelous on the second night of a back-to-back in a 103-96 win over the Milwaukee Bucks, the defending NBA Finals champions.
In the Raptors loss to the Pistons on Friday, Detroit only limited Toronto to only 16 second quarter points, and it was Canadian Trey Lyles of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan who led the team with 21 points. Despite only winning 10 games this year, it was the second time Detroit has beaten Toronto in 2021-22, as they beat the Raptors 127-121 on November 13 in Toronto. There is no doubt the fact that Pistons head coach Dwane Casey’s experience in Toronto helped Detroit get by the Raptors twice this year.
Then in the Raptors game on Saturday, Raptors head coach Nick Nurse deserves a lot of credit for getting his team ready on the second game of a back-to-back. Pascal Siakam was fabulous as he collected a triple double (30 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists). Priceious Achiuwa had a double-double (14 points and 10 rebounds), while three more Raptors reached double digits in scoring. OG Anunoby had 24 points, Fred VanVleet had 17 points, and Canadian Chris Boucher had 15 points.
It was the third time the Raptors beat the Bucks this year. They also beat them 97-93 on December 2 and 117-111 on January 5. With the win, Toronto improved to a record of 21 wins and 19 losses. They are in eighth place in the East.
