Rookie Ja’Kobe Walter stars, but Raptors fall at home to Pistons

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Give the Toronto Raptors the credibility they are very entertaining for a team that has such a bad record.

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The Raptors lost another close game on Friday night at home with the Detroit Pistons fighting 117-105.

With the season over, Toronto lost the third straight game, but scored 10 or less in 40 games, which was almost Game 41.

Rookie Ja’kobe Walter performed well, leading the Raptors with 22 points, while freshman Jamal Shead added 14 and 8 assists, giving Jose Calderon second place in Toronto’s rookie season assists and 14 times after Damon Stoudamire and Immanuel Quickley.

Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic has been a Shead fan all season, promoting him to the point guard before Davion Mitchell, who ended up being traded and talked consistently. Nothing changed after the game.

When asked about Shead, Rajakovic said: “It all starts with his mindset, his mindset is that he is the winner.”

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“He just tries to make the winning drama offense, he sets the standard in a defensive way, his catch way, his way under the opponent’s skin,” Rajakovic said. “He’s really good at finding those bagged passes for rollers, which is very, very happy with his development this year. ”

Tim Hardaway Jr. led Detroit with 23 strokes, Malik Beasley added 21 points, while Jalen Duren had 19 points and 18 rebounds.

Detroit has been one of the NBA’s biggest positive surprises, completing the first time since the 2015-16 year with a score of 0.500. The Pistons won just 14 games last season, and 17 games the previous year, the team didn’t have All-Star guard Cade Cunningham, so former Raptors Dennis Schroder started at point guard, slightly above Quickley, although neither was good.

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Toronto has no Scottie Barnes due to a hand injury, while RJ Barrett and Ochai Agbaji have rested. Brandon Ingram and academician Gradey Dick are still injured, Dick will not play again this season, and head coach Darko Rajakovic said Ingram may have run out of time before the season is over to come back from his ankle serve before the end of the season.

Detroit led 29-28, with both teams struggling on the court.

Due to the balance attack, the Pistons increased their advantage to 65-55 at halftime. Four Detroit players scored at least 10 points, with only one of the Raptors Walter being double-digit.

Walter has always been the highlight of the Raptors. The rookie has reached double-digit score for the eighth of his last nine games (his scored nine against Portland on Thursday) and has reached 16 of his last 28 3-point attempts.

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Walter missed training camp and the start of the season due to a shoulder injury and an understandably slow start, but has been a highlight of the team during a tough season. The 19th pick in the draft last year looked like a good long-term work.

Walter helped the Raptors resume the game as the team fell 22 points. He played the solo 8-0 later in the third quarter, making it a 10-point game, but the Pistons responded as they nailed threes on the buzzer all night with Hardaway Jr. to make it 93-77.

Hardaway hit seven on three-pointers against Toronto in January’s Detroit win.

However, Toronto hasn’t finished yet, starting in the fourth quarter at a 12-2 rate in creep, then the Pistons recalibrated and restored the score, sending many fans to the exit early.

Detroit won the playoffs for the first time since 2018-19, the third time since 2009-10 years.

rwolstat@postmedia.com

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