TORONTO -- DeMar DeRozan poured in 25 points to lift Toronto to a 101-87 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday, as the Raptors took another step closer to clinching their first playoff appearance in six years.
Kyle Lowry added 19 points and six assists, while Amir Johnson finished with 20 points and nine rebounds for the Raptors (36-27), who've won 10 of their last 13 games.
The Raptors were coming off a 101-97 loss to the Nets two nights earlier in Brooklyn, a thriller played in a post-season type atmosphere.
Wednesday's game, by comparison, was a sleepy affair. Toronto, which is in the hunt for its second division title and first playoff appearance since 2008, coughed up double-digit leads a couple of times -- including an 18-point third-quarter advantage that the Pistons whittled down to just five -- in a game it could have put out of reach far earlier.
The Raptors went into the fourth quarter with a narrow 74-69 lead in front of the 18,247 fans at the Air Canada Centre that braved a snowstorm. They scored the first nine points of the fourth to go up by 14. A wide-open three by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope with 8:23 to go cut the Raptors' lead to nine points, but that was as close as the struggling Pistons would come.
A dunk by DeRozan from an Andre Drummond turnover with less than a minute to go finally brought the fans out of their seats.
Brandon Jennings topped the Pistons (25-40) with 24 points, while Drummond had 16 points and nine rebounds and Greg Monroe had 13 points to go with 10 boards.
Raptors coach Dwane Casey said prior to tip-off that containing Detroit's strong frontcourt would be a "huge test." Detroit leads the league in points in the paint and offensive rebounds, thanks largely to Drummond.
"Drummond is one of the top offensive rebounders in the NBA. they do a great job of attacking the paint, whether it's off the dribble, rebounding, second shots, free throw situation. . .," said Casey. "They just try to physically beat you up going to the boards, so it's a huge test for our interior guys."
The Raptors were effective in that regard, outrebounding Detroit 54-39 and outscoring their visitors in the paint 44-38. The Raptors shot just 42 per cent on the night however, to the Pistons' 43.6, and made eight of their 20 three-point attempts.
The Raptors raced out to a nine-point lead four minutes into the game, stretching it to 14 on a pullup jumper by John Salmons before ending the first quarter up 29-21.
The Raptors went almost five minutes without a point to open the second, and Bynum drained a three with 8:37 left in the half to tie the game 29-29. The Raptors managed to cobble together another 10-point lead and took a 52-45 advantage into the dressing room at halftime.
A three-pointer by Lowry stretched Toronto's lead to 18 points just four-and-a-half minutes into the third but the Raptors couldn't maintain it. The Pistons ended the quarter on a 14-2 run to send the game into the fourth with Toronto leading 74-69.
