Rock Bottom?

You have to hope so.

The Pistons blew a 25 point 3rd quarter lead to the Raptors last night. It was a collapse of epic proportions. And, worst of all, I didn't even see it coming. Mrs. Nofrownmotown did. She said, as the Pistons led in the 3rd, "They're defense still sucks. When the Pistons 'shots stop falling, Toronto will catch up."

Ugh. So true. I figured they had this game in the bag as the Pistons piled up over 70 points in the first half. The team was actually having fun. But the Raptors refused to go away, helped out by a few fortuitous plays, most notably a half-court shot to end the half. The Raptors buried threes at a 64% clip and hit more free throws.

The Pistons, despite shooting over 50% for the game, stuttered down the stretch. The offense stalled, and the defense never clamped down the open Toronto jump-shooters.

This was a dreadful loss. It's perhaps the biggest gut-punch in a season of massive gut-punch losses. The lottery can't come soon enough.