Harris leads Pistons with 22 points
Detroit Pistons might have no answers for Raptors in 109-91 opening loss, but Harris leads Pistons with 22 points.
Tobias Harris leads Pistons with 22 points. Pistons played without point guard Reggie Jackson, who is out until next month rehabbing a left knee that received a platelet-rich plasma injection.
His last appearance came with a mask to protect a broken nose, and a taped left index finger.
Harris was brought in after a February trade with the Orlando Magic to help upgrade the Pistons’ forwards. They had a scorer in Marcus Morris who thrived in isolation, Harris added a different dimension with his athleticism and play-making ability.
The Raptors scored 54 points in the paint with center Jonas Valanciunas leading the way with 32 points and 11 rebounds.
The Raptors (1-0) shot 24-for-29 at the free-throw line, and outrebounded the Pistons 51-40.
The Pistons (0-1) were led by Tobias Harris’ 22 points. Andre Drummond finished with 16 points and six rebounds in 24 minutes. He was hindered by foul trouble and an early elbow to the jaw from Valanciunas.
The Pistons, who enter the season with optimism after their first playoff appearance in six seasons, shot 4-for-22 from three-point range. Marcus Morris scored 17 points. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored four points on 2-for-9 shooting.
But the main story was DeRozan, who thrilled the Air Canada Centre crowd. He finished 17-for-27 from the field, and was 10-for-14 in the third quarter.
“He obviously hit some tough shots,” Harris said to sources: “You have to give him credit for it, but at the same time there were a lot of baskets that they made where we could have helped ourselves out by getting the offensive rebound or grabbing the defensive rebound and going the other way. We didn’t help ourselves in that aspect, but he had it going and when obviously when someone has it going like that you gotta keep fighting, but you gotta take away all the easy baskets and you gotta pretty much be perfect …”
DeRozan, who only needed three quarters to score 40, finished with 15 points in the first quarter and the Raptors shot 13-for-13 at the line to take a 33-23 lead after the first quarter.
