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

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Give the Toronto Raptors credit, they’ve been pretty entertaining for a team with such a poor record.

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The Raptors lost another close game, 117-105, battling throughout, this time to the Detroit Pistons at home on Friday night.

Toronto lost for the third straight time as the season nears its conclusion, but has played in 40 games settled by 10 points or fewer, and this one was nearly a 41st.

Rookie Ja’Kobe Walter was excellent, leading the Raptors with 22 points, while fellow freshman Jamal Shead added 14 and eight assists to pass Jose Calderon for second on Toronto’s rookie season assists list behind Damon Stoudamire and Immanuel Quickley also scored 14.

Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic has been a fan of Shead all season, promoting him to the backup point guard spot ahead of Davion Mitchell, who eventually was traded and talking him up consistently. Nothing changed post-game.

“Everything starts with his mindset and his mindset is he’s a winner,” Rajakovic said when asked about Shead.

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“He goes out there and he’s just gonna try to make winning plays offence he sets the standard the way he’s guarding defensively, the way he’s picking up, the way he’s getting under the skin of opposing players. And then offensively, I think he really improved his passing,” Rajakovic said. “He’s really good at finding those pocket passes to the roller so really, really happy with his development this year.”

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

Detroit has been one of the NBA’s biggest positive surprises, finishing above .500 for the first time since 2015-16. The Pistons won only 14 games last season and 17 the year before, but the team was without all-star guard Cade Cunningham, so former Raptor Dennis Schroder started at point guard and slightly outplayed Quickley, though neither were great.

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Toronto was without Scottie Barnes due to his hand injury, while RJ Barrett and Ochai Agbaji were rested. Brandon Ingram and Gradey Dick remain injured and Dick will not play again this season, while head coach Darko Rajakovic said pre-game Ingram has likely run out of time to get back from his ankle issue before the season ends in just over a week.

Detroit led 29-28 after one quarter, with both teams struggling from the field.

The Pistons pushed the advantage to 65-55 at halftime, thanks to a balance attack. Four Detroit players had at least 10 points, only one Raptor, Walter, was in double figures.

Walter has been a bright spot down the stretch for the Raptors. The rookie reached double figures in scoring for the eighth time in his last nine games (he scored nine on Thursday against Portland) and has hit 16 of his last 28 three-point attempts.

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Walter missed training camp and the start of the season due to a shoulder injury and got off to an understandably slow start, but has been a bright spot for the team in a tough season. The 19th pick of last year’s draft looks like a nice long-term piece.

Walter helped will the Raptors back into the game after the team went down by 22 points. He went on a personal 8-0 run late in the third quarter to make it a 10-point game, but the Pistons responded, as they had all night and Hardaway Jr. nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer to make it 93-77.

Hardaway had hit 7-of-8 three-point attempts against Toronto in a Detroit win in January.

Toronto wasn’t quite done though, starting the fourth quarter on a 12-2 run to creep within four, before the Pistons recalibrated and ran the score back up, sending many fans to the exits early.

Detroit clinched a playoff spot for the first time since 2018-19 and for just the third time since 2009-10.

rwolstat@postmedia.com

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