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Andre Drummond, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Reggie Jackson provided three-fourths of the Detroit Pistons' output on Tuesday night in a 108-104 win against the Toronto Raptors. Technically, only 69 percent of it, but the young trio combined for 75 points, absolutely catapulting the team to its fourth win in the last five contests.
The Pistons jumped out to a double-digit 37-27 lead after 12 minutes on blistering-hot shooting. Breaking the franchise record for three-point makes in a season on Sunday must have broken the frozen seal, as the team was 7-11 from three in the first behind a perfect 3-3 from Anthony Tolliver and two apiece from KCP and Caron Butler. (They were 12-29 in the game.)
KCP was unstoppable in the first half, scoring 18 of his 26 in helping the Pistons to a 60-48 halftime advantage. The third quarter belonged to Drummond and Jackson -- literally?
Drummond and Jackson combined to score the Pistons' first 19 points in the frame and finished with 21 of 25. Drummond added five boards in the quarter and a great help block. If not for a lot of whistles in favor of the Raptors, Dre Jacks probably would've helped the Pistons run away with the game, but the Raptors eked back into it.
Thanks to 22 second-half freebie attempts in all, most of which came from DeMar DeRozan attacking the basket, and Lou Williams, the Raptors came all the way back from what was once an 18-point Pistons lead to take a couple different one-point leads. Impressively, though, the Pistons answered each fourth quarter deficit with a run, 7-0 and 7-2 respectively, to capture the win.
Drummond finished two rebounds shy of another 20-20 (21 & 18). Jackson led all scorers with 28 points and was one assist shy of a double-double. KCP had 26 points on 17 shots (5-9 from three).
The Pistons have won three straight and, with 11 games remaining, are only 4.5 out of the No. 8 seed. They couldn't, right? Nahh....
Now your thoughts.