Raptors end homestand by thrashing the Detroit Pistons 142-113

There is no other way to describe this game than an old-fashioned beatdown. The Toronto Raptors completely dominated the Detroit Pistons by a score of 142-113. This was a wire-to-wire victory for Toronto and they never let go of the gas. 

The Raptors led by as many as 40 points in this game and they did it all by working together. This was by far the best cohesion that this team has displayed for an entire 48 minutes. We've witnessed this team fall into the habit of isolation basketball. Still, tonight was the behaviour of a team with a new identity, reflected by their record-breaking mark of 44 assists.

Dennis Schroder set the tone early with great playmaking out of the gate. He took advantage of his matchup, whether dissecting the pick and roll or getting to the spots he wanted to. He finished with 17 points and seven assists with zero turnovers.

Seven Raptors finished in double figures marking a season-high. Along with Schroder, Jakob Poeltl was sensational. Although he finished with a double-double of 16 points and 10 assists, his impact on this game goes further than the box score. He was covering a tremendous amount of ground, being very engaged in defence. On many possessions, Poeltl would blitz the ball handler on the screen and roll, then dive to the paint to pick up the big to avoid the mismatch, while playing help defence to force a miss.

This was a near-perfect game by the Raptors. They committed just seven turnovers while forcing 17 on Detroit. Shot the ball efficiently at 54 percent from the field and 39 percent from three-point range. 

Great performances by Toronto's two stars are deserving of recognition. Pascal Siakam finished with a game-high 23 points, seven rebounds, and six assists. On the other hand, Scottie Barnes finished with 17 points, nine assists, and seven assists along with a net rating of +37 leading all players.

Darko Rajakovic gets his first massive blowout win as an NBA head coach. Toronto improves to 6-7 on the season, inching closer to reaching .500. The Detroit Pistons lose their 11 consecutive games following this loss. The Raptors will now prepare to hit the road against the Orlando Magic who have gotten off to a great start this season. The game will be on Monday at 7 PM ET.