Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince lead as the Detroit Pistons trounce the Toronto Raptors, 107-93
Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince sizzled as the Detroit Pistons trounced the Toronto Raptors 107-93 on Wednesday night at Palace of Auburn Hills. Hamilton scored a game-high 24 points while Prince finished with 22.
The Pistons led the first quarter quite comprehensively 38-24, as their head coach John Kuester went the old school way. He started off with his four oldest players Ben Wallace, Hamilton, Tracy McGrady and Prince along with the
rookie Greg Monroe. The batch galloped 38 points in the first quarter, leading Pistons to their highest-scoring of the first quarter in entire season. Hamilton contributed the most 10 points for the Pistons in this quarter, ripping in two from beyond the arc.
The Pistons maintained the double-digit lead throughout the second section and stretched the lead max to 20 points 51-31 midway. However before going to the locker room, the Raptors cut the shortfall to 11 points. The Pistons took
a 63-52 advantage into the break.
The Raptors were as close as six on several occasions in the third segment, but failed to get any closer. Both teams tallied 24 points apiece in the third segment, as the Pistons guided the Raptors in another regulation 87-76.
Hamilton led the pack again with his 10 points in the period. While Andrea Bargnani scored nine points for the Raptors.
It seemed as the Raptors had lost all the hopes of winning as their body language plus dampen game was showing off prominently. The Raptors finished up adding 17 more points in the final frame, this was their lowest quarter score
in the entire game. On the other hand, the Pistons finished the game in style, winning by 14 points and shattered their three-game losing streak along with a series win over the Raptors 3-1.
Rodney Stuckey made his career-high by providing 14 assists for the Pistons. After the game Prince expressed his views on Pistons’ quick start.
He said: "No matter who starts, if you get off to a good start like we did, it sets the tone for the game. If you've got a guy like Ben Wallace out there protecting the paint and doing things for us defensively, blocking shots
and rebounding the basketball, it allows us to get out and run, take some gambles and do some different things."
On the other hand Toronto coach Jay Triano said: "Their energy was better than ours from the beginning of the game. You can't dig a hole like we did tonight. For the remainder of the game, I thought we outplayed them, but you can't
afford to get down to this team."
Bargnani guided the Raptors with 20 points, while his teammate Leandro Barbosa scored 18 points off the bench. The Raptors never led after hitting the first basket.
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