Win vs. Pistons shows Raptors still have big flaws they must fix

Pascal Siakam and the Toronto Raptors came into their Saturday matinee against the Detroit Pistons riding a stretch in which they had won six of their last seven games and were a choke at home away from a season-long seven-game winning streak. Even without Fred VanVleet in the lineup, the team had rolled along to some quality victories.

The Raptors were unable to sustain that mojo against the Detroit Pistons during a Saturday matinee, as both teams were knotted up at 44 points even after the first half. The Raptors were getting beat up on the boards, as former No. 2 pick Marvin Bagley III had 13 points and 13 rebounds in the first half.

After tying the first two quarters and winning the third stanza by a slim margin, the Raptors pulled out a 95-91 victory that pushed them further up the Eastern Conference standings. Siakam led the team with 29 points, while Jakob Poeltl’s 14 rebounds helped Toronto squeak out a road win despite some crippling limitations.

Even though the addition of Poeltl has made the Raptors a much more respectable and robust team that actually has some sliver of a shot at making the postseason, this team still has some warts that one 7-1 center is not going to fix all by his lonesome.

Win vs. Pistons shows Toronto Raptors still have flaws.

While Poeltl has been a tremendous addition, the biggest area of need for this Raptors team is still shooting. After missing a ridiculous 12 free throws and going 7-26 from 3-point range, Toronto showed that their perimeter play without VanVleet can go into the toilet on any given night.

While the Precious Achiuwa/Chris Boucher dynamic duo has been very encouraging off the bench, you can’t lean on a unit that is just two players deep. While it’s nice to see a hard-working two-way guard like Jeff Dowtin Jr. get rewarded for his efforts this season, the fact he is in the rotation over Dalano Banton and Malachi Flynn is an indictment of this roster.

The Raptors are too late in the season to make wholesale changes, but they need to make a few tweaks here and there. The Dowtin decision is a start. Perhaps giving a shooter like Joe Wieskamp, who was recently signed to a standard Raptors multi-year contract, some minutes could be beneficial.

The Raptors are an improved team, but they are far from a buzzsaw that will turn the rest of the Eastern Conference into a gelatinous pool of flotsam. Detroit proved that this team has holes that even a cellar-dweller can expose, and Toronto needs to be keenly aware of those shortcomings.