Pistons at Raptors preview: Pistons running hot and cold as they head to Canada

Pistons were down by as much as 16 last night to the Indiana Pacers before surging in the second half to pull off the win.

The Atlanta Hawks played them tight before a big third quarter put the Pistons up by as many as 24 and Detroit cruised to the win.

Then in the preseason opener against the Charlotte Hornets, the Pistons let a 20 point lead slip away with a third quarter collapse as the Hornets got the win.

We’ll see if the trend of big runs will continue to define the preseason for the Pistons as they head to Toronto for their first road game of the year.

Two players have been fixtures for those surges for Detroit: Ish Smith and Stanley Johnson. Johnson leads the team in net rating this preseason with a scorching +29.2 and Ish follows closely behind at 24.4. Johnson’s shooting has been much improved over last season as he’s knocking down 45.8 percent of his shots from the field and 50 percent from three.

And Ish has been his usual dynamic self as a distributor with 8 assists per game, but is also shooting 51.4 percent from the field - much better than his career average of 41.1 percent.

On the injuries and rest side of things, Stan Van Gundy indicated he’d like to get Reggie Bullock (groin) and Reggie Jackson (knee) back on the court tonight. Andre Drummond (pink eye) is also a maybe, but no word as of yet on Avery Bradley (ankle). Boban Marjanovic also went to the locker room last night, but no indication to the nature or extent of his injury - or his availability tonight.

Yeah, I know, not the most concrete info. Sorry about that. Check out the gamethread later today for updates if they’re available.

Game Vitals

When: October 10, 2017 at 7 p.m. ET
Where: Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON
Watch: TSN or League Pass
Listen: 950 AM

Projected Lineup

Pistons (2-1)
Reggie Jackson, Luke Kennard, Stanley Johnson, Tobias Harris, Andre Drummond

Raptors (1-2)
Kyle Lowry, Norman Powell, Bruno Caboclo, Serge Ibaka, Jonas Valanciunas

Community Question

What seed do you see the Raptors making in the Eastern Conference this season?