Raptors win 97-91; Calderon notches 19 assists

Jose Calderon attempts to find Jonas Valanciunas off the pick and roll. Raptors won 97-91
(Photo courtesy of AP)

The Toronto Raptors continued to roll, with a 97-91 victory over the Detroit Pistons. Jose Calderon tied his record (and the team record) with 19 assists. He had nine in the first quarter, just two shy of Doug Christie's record of 11. Demar DeRozan had the team high of 23 points, including two three pointers. For the Pistons, Greg Monroe had a monster of a game, scoring a career high of 35 points.

The big story of the night for Detroit was not their young center's great game, but free throws. The Piston's missed 12 shots from the charity stripe. The Raptors probably had a bit of luck on their side as far as free throws are concerned because it would have been a whole other ball game if they weren't off from the line. Rookie Andre Drummond missed five free throws and that has been an issue with him all season as he has shot just 41% from the line.

The Raptors did have some issues in this game though. One thing that stood out to me was their shot selection down the line. In the final five or six minutes when they were up by 10, they chose to start shooting three pointers to increase the lead. Not a bad move if you're hitting them, but in this case, they were not. They needed to work the ball inside and try and get the higher percentage shot. Had they done this, the game would not have been as close as it was. Hopefully Dwane Casey will mention this to the players as it might end up hurting them in the future.

Post Game Thoughts

- Another great game by Jose Calderon. Making it harder on Casey when Lowry returns

- Valanciunas had a good game, scoring 12 and grabbing 7 boards. He's starting to come around.

- No Landry Fields again tonight. Gotta think Casey just doesn't want to ruin a good thing. As the saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.