Pistons fall to the division-leading Toronto 121-119, in overtime.
Another one of those games where the Pistons came out playing outstanding basketball for two quarters, then struggle in the third. After leading by 14 at halftime, the Pistons were outscored in the third quarter 40-25. Turnovers fueled the Raptors come back, scoring 17 points off the Pistons 17 miscues.
Demar DeRozan led the Raptors with 24 points, off 17 shots and 4 trips to the free-throw line -all in the 3rd quarter. He finished the game with 42 points. Kyle Lowery finished with 15 points and 15 assist.
Blake Griffin led the Pistons with 31 points and 2 huge buckets in the fourth quarter to send the game to OT. Andre Drummond finished with another double-double, 10 points and 21 rebounds.
Do the Detroit Pistons have ‘diehard' Fans?
The Detroit Pistons 34th NBA home game at Little Caesars arena truly felt like a road one. More than 17,000 fans were in attendance for Wednesday night's ESPN televised game versus the division leading Toronto Raptors.
Listening to sounds of chants and cheers through out the crown, it seemed to be mostly Raptor fans inside the Downtown Detroit arena. With Canada now minutes away from their NBA team visiting Detroit, chants of, “Let’s Go Raptors” echoed a few times only to be met with a host of boo’s from Pistons fans.
True, the Toronto Raptors are the best team in the division, and the Pistons are struggling to make the playoffs - but we can’t let their fans come in our house and out cheer us.
Leads me to my next question: Do the Detroit Pistons have ‘diehard' Fans?
You would think after 40 years of playing in Auburn Hills, fans would appreciate the move back downtown Detroit. Even with the Pistons starting the season off with a 10-3 record, LCA still struggled to get fans in seats.
I spoke with former Detroit Piston Tayshaun Prince, who is now an executive with the Memphis Grizzlies, and he says "it always looks empty on televised games” he’s watched. Something the former World Champion wasn’t accustomed to while playing wearing a Pistons uniform.
The Pistons added 'band-aid like' seat covers to stop the bleeding. The black seat-sleeves, sponsored by Art Van, covers seats that can be seen on television that are not filled by fans.
Attendance for games versus teams like the Rockets, Celtics, Warriors, and of course the Cavs were nearly at capacity, if not completely sold out. These games were also full of fans cheering for the visiting team. For other games, LCA attendance averaged around 15,000 fans - even less for bad weather nights.
The Pistons did get exactly what they were looking for when they added Blake Griffen to the roster. The 5-time NBA all-star's jersey, sold-out at the team store within minutes of door’s opening for Griffin’s debut game at LCA. The fans were excited, and the Pistons went on a 5 game win streak.
What will it take for the Pistons to have diehard fans?