Toronto Raptors: Three keys to beating Dwane Casey and the Detroit Pistons
The Toronto Raptors face off against the Detroit Pistons and old head coach Dwane Casey on Wednesday night. What are the three keys to victory?
Dwane Casey’s return to the Air Canada Centre is here (I know it’s technically Scotiabank arena now). The greatest coach in Toronto Raptors history, who experienced a tumultuous end to his career in Canada, will return as head coach of the Detroit Pistons.
Casey likely feels jilted. That’s okay. It would be difficult to coach the best team in franchise history, win NBA Coach of the Year, and be fired all within a few months. To make matters worse, now with Casey gone, Toronto finally has found a legitimate superstar in Kawhi Leonard.
If the Raptors and Casey were a relationship, Casey helped the Raptors get their life together only to get dumped. After getting dropped he had to watch his ex get much more attractive (trade for Kawhi Leonard) and date his one of his good friends (Nick Nurse). It’s a tough deal for Casey, but that doesn’t make it the wrong decision.
Casey should be welcomed with open arms by the crowd. The team, however, has a game to play. After suffering a rare loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, the Raptors could use a bounce back win. Here are the three keys to help them do that.
1. Keep Detroit off the glass
The Detroit Pistons are an excellent rebounding team. The Toronto Raptors are not. Detroit currently ranks 5th in the NBA in REB% while Toronto ranks all the way down at 19.
On Wednesday night, the Raptors will need to make a concerted effort to keep the Pistons off the glass. It all starts with Andre Drummond. Drummond averages an absurd 16.6 rebounds per game, first in the NBA. The Raptors lead rebounder, Serge Ibaka, averages nearly half of that. (8.4 rebounds per game).
Stopping Drummond is difficult. Stopping both him and Griffin is nearly impossible. Griffin averages 10.2 rebounds per game as well, ranking him 20th in the NBA. He and Drummond are an elite rebounding two-some in a league that has de-emphasized cleaning the glass.
Against a traditional two-big look, Toronto will likely start Jonas Valanciunas to keep Detroit off the boards. JV and Siakam will need to make sure to box-out Drummond and Griffin, allowing the other Raptors to swoop in and gobbled up the rebounds.
It might hurt the Raptors in transition, but keeping Detroit off the glass should be priority one.
2. Feel free to help off
The Pistons have to great low-post players. Their backcourt….. leaves more to be desired. As a result, Detroit is very poor at creating for others. They currently rank 29th in the NBA in assists per 100 possessions and 22nd in assist/turnover ratio.
The team leader in assists per game is Blake Griffin. Griffin has always been a good passer for his position, but a powerforward averaging five assists per night shouldn’t be running your offense.
The Pistons might be the worst passing, non-tanking team in the NBA. Toronto should trust their rotations and trust the lack of Pistons ball movement.
3. Pack the paint
Another reason the Raptors can help off their man, Detroit’s lack of three-point shooting. The Pistons rank 29th in the NBA in three-point percentage. Averaging 35 attempts per game (5th most in the NBA), they shoot a lot of them. Unfortunately, they don’t go in.
Other than Reggie Bullock, no-one on this team is a knockdown shooter. Blake has cooled off after a hot-start, Reggie Jackson takes a lot of three’s but doesn’t make a lot of threes, and former first-round pick. Luke Kennard, can’t find his way onto the court.
Anyone can get hot for a night, but the odds say to allow Detroit to shoot.
dark. Next. Toronto Raptors: Why was Dwane Casey the fall guy?
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