Chris Bosh scored a team-high 25 points and
grabbed eight rebounds, as the Toronto Raptors earned a 110-99 win over the
Detroit Pistons at Air Canada Centre.
Andrea Bargnani turned in a solid performance with 22 points and a game-best
12 boards for the Raptors, who recovered after dropping a 125-116 decision to
Orlando on Monday. Toronto has split its first four games of the young season.
Hedo Turkoglu added 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
Ben Gordon went for a game-high 30 points, while Charlie Villanueva chipped in
with 16 points and seven boards for Detroit, which earned an 85-80 at Orlando
on Wednesday. Rodney Stuckey had 13 points and 10 rebounds for the 2-3
Pistons.
Bargnani nailed a three-pointer early in the fourth quarter and the Raptors
had a seven-point edge at 89-82. However, Detroit would go on a 9-1 run and
grab a one-point advantage with 7:46 to play. Then with things tied at 93 at
the midway point, Bosh's make started an 8-0 Toronto run to put his squad up
101-93 with under four minutes to play.
After a Villanueva jumper broke the string, Bargnani answered with a bucket
and Bosh added three free throws to make it a 106-95 game with under a minute
to play and the Pistons wouldn't get any closer.
"I don't think the starters did a good job starting out and playing defense,"
said Bosh. "Ben Gordon got going, but our bench came through. That's what a
team is about."
Detroit led 28-24 after one quarter, but the Raptors put together a 14-3 run
to start the second and held a 38-31 advantage after an Amir Johnson layup
three minutes in.
Toronto continued to play the frontrunner for the rest of the quarter and a
pair of free throws by Jarrett Jack with under a second to play in the half
put the hosts up 68-56 heading into the break.
"Needless to say if anyone in this league scores that many points, it's going
to be tough to counter that," said Gordon. "We did a good job of rallying back
in the third and had a lead for a short period of time, but we never could
really hold them off."
A pair of free throws by Bosh and a fade away jumper from Turkoglu to start
the third put the Raptors up 16 and they held a double-figure lead until the
later stages of the period. Three from the charity stripe from Stuckey helped
the Pistons narrow the deficit to 85-77 after three quarters.
Game Notes
Pistons guard Richard Hamilton (sprained right ankle) and forward Tayshaun
Prince (lower back strain) missed the contest...Detroit took all three
matchups with the Raptors last year and despite the loss has won 14 of the
last 18 contests in the series.
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