KCP Hits Game-Winner As Pistons Mount 16-Point Comeback Against Raptors [VIDEO]
PAUL ATTFIELD
Associated Press
TORONTO (AP) — Tobias Harris had 24 points off the bench, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 21, including a go-ahead 3-pointer with 13.2 seconds left and the Detroit Pistons overcame a 16-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat the Toronto Raptors 102-101 on Sunday night.
Andre Drummond had 10 points and 18 rebounds for his 36th double-double of the season as the Pistons snapped a four-game skid in Toronto.
DeMar DeRozan scored 26 points for Toronto and Jonas Valanciunas had 17 points and nine rebounds, but it wasn't enough to keep the Raptors from losing for the 10th time in their last 14 games.
Trailing 88-73 following Terrence Ross' 3-pointer with 9:23 to play, the Pistons went on a 9-0 run to cut the deficit to six with 7:19 remaining.
Caldwell-Pope made it a two-point game with a pull-up jumper with 47.9 seconds remaining, and then put the Pistons in front 102-101 with his 3-pointer.
Kyle Lowry was fouled by Caldwell-Pope with 8.5 seconds left. But following the inbounds pass, DeRozan was unable to convert a turnaround jumper from 17 feet with 0.9 seconds to play.
In a back-and-forth first quarter featuring five lead changes, no team gained more than a four-point edge. Led by 10 points from DeRozan and a 60 percent shooting percentage from 3-point range, compared to just 14.3 percent for Detroit, the Raptors emerged with a 27-25 advantage after 12 minutes.
The Pistons took a five-point lead early in the second, but the Raptors responded with a 17-2 run - including eight points by Valanciunas - to lead by 12 with 2:39 to play in the period. However, the Pistons grabbed the last six points of the quarter to close the gap to 51-45 at the half.
Toronto extended that lead to a game-high 16 points with 7:19 remaining in the third quarter. While the Pistons closed within eight with 2:10 remaining, Cory Joseph scored the next six points and DeRozan had a turnaround jumper to push the lead to 82-66 entering the fourth quarter.
TIP-INS
Pistons: Since his rookie season in 2012-13, Drummond has 216 double-doubles, most in the NBA over that span. ... Leading the NBA in allowing second-chance points at 10.1 points per game before Sunday's contest, the Pistons held the Raptors to 14 points in that department.
Raptors: F Patrick Patterson (left knee) missed his fourth straight game and 14th of the team's last 23. The Raptors are 7-7 without him. Jakob Poeltl made his third career start in his place. ... Toronto will head into the NBA All-Star break with a plus-.500 record for a franchise-best fourth straight year. ... DeRozan extended his career high of consecutive 20-plus-point games to 20. ... After playing an NBA-high 22 games between Jan. 1 and Feb. 8, the Raptors had a three-day break before Sunday's game.
SHOT SHY
With Detroit shooting 33.8 percent from 3-point range, ranking 27th in the league before Sunday's games, Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy said part of the problem is his team passing up opportunities when it has them. In particular, he singled out Jon Leuer, Marcus Morris and Harris, who had attempted just five between them in Friday's loss to San Antonio.
"I think they pass up too many and they all have a tendency if they miss their first two they're going to pass them up the rest of the night," he said. "We really can't have that. They've got to shoot the ball when they're open."
I DON'T LIKE SUNDAYS
The Raptors fell to 1-5 when playing home games on Sundays with the loss. They have three more Sunday games at Air Canada Centre over the remainder of the regular season.
KEEPING FOCUS
With the NBA's trade deadline on Feb. 23, Raptors coach Dwane Casey was asked before the game if it plays on his thoughts at all.
"No, no. I'm more trying to keep our guys' attention off of it," he said. "We've got a lot of issues. I'll leave that to (president) Masai (Ujiri) and (general manager) Jeff (Weltman), (who) do a great job; they're all over it as far as what the league is doing, who's doing what."
UP NEXT
Pistons: Visit Milwaukee on Monday, where Detroit has lost four of its last six games.
Raptors: Visit Chicago on Tuesday aiming to snap 10-game losing skid against the Bulls.
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