The Toronto Raptors had little trouble defeating the Detroit Pistons last night. The Raptors used the long ball early and often, while the Pistons either couldn’t or didn’t. Detroit managed five 3-balls on just 17 attempts, while the Raptors’ new man, C.J. Miles, hit that many by himself.
Serge Ibaka, who’s turned himself into a stretch-4 and a whole lot more, hit 4 of 7 tries. The Raptors didn’t impress with their accuracy (13 of 37, or 35.1%), but didn’t need to. Eight more made threes is 24 points, almost exactly the margin of victory.
There was more to like on this night than the long balls.