Poeltl imperfect in return to Raptors lineup
Global News
Jakob Poeltl's return didn't exactly go to plan.
TORONTO – Jakob Poeltl’s return didn’t exactly go to plan.
The Austrian big man played his first game Wednesday after missing 24 with nagging back pain against the Detroit Pistons, but his Toronto Raptors struggled in a 113-95 loss against the Eastern Conference leaders.
Toronto’s loss marked its seventh in as many attempts against the top three seeds in the East, also including the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks.
The Raptors are also now 4-13 against the 10 best teams in the league overall.
“I think they just outworked and outclassed us a little bit today,” Poeltl said. “They played really physical, they rotated really aggressively on defence and at times we played really well against it, but we just couldn’t knock down open shots. At times, it looked pretty bad and we turned the ball over or we got stuck.”
Detroit, which has just 13 losses on the season, became the first team in the conference to hit the 40-win mark. The Raptors remained fifth, dropping to 32-23.
Poeltl’s first shift partly portended the night to come. He scored the Raptors’ first basket of the game on a pick-and-roll with RJ Barrett, but missed a lefty layup attempt soon after.
On the defensive end, he matched up with regular backup Paul Reed and allowed him to score 11 of Detroit’s first 14 points. Reed finished with 22 points and five rebounds.
