For all the teams that advanced to the second round, the league's awards were just a small episode, and their goal was still the glittering O'Brien Cup. The atmosphere within the Pistons was similarly filled with pre-game tension, and even though they had a better regular season record than the Raptors, Brown didn't think they could beat their opponents nine times out of ten.

When he was in charge of the 76ers before, Brown had to play against the Canadian team many times a season because they were in the same division, so he naturally knew what they were afraid of. What's more, the two rising stars in the Raptors are improving every year, and no one knows exactly where their limits are, but it's clear that they're stronger than last season.

Last offseason, the Raptors did not make large-scale reinforcements, but only made minor repairs to the roster, and it was a top priority for management to keep the twin stars of Maddy and Carter, and everything else could be put aside for the time being. However, coach Wilkens is not as energetic as before, so he can still bring the Raptors to the third place in the East, which undoubtedly proves that they are strong. In fact, Brown has always considered the Raptors to be one of the most talented teams in the league, and the Pistons are far inferior in this regard.

What worries him is still happening. Although the first game was the home court of the Pistons, the Raptors' players were not stage frightened, especially Maddy, who was as excited as he was playing in Toronto. He was quite active at the beginning of the game, hitting three three-pointers in a row with his best pull-up jumper from the outside, leading the team to an 11-0 start.

You must know that it is the Pistons' number one outside gate Prince who is responsible for defending Maddie in this game, and even if he can't limit Maddy, what else can anyone else do? Soon Hamilton told everyone that he could still score!

In fact, Hamilton has never been known for his explosive scoring ability, and a lot of times you feel like he didn't shoot a lot in a game, but when you look at the stats after the game, you'll say something like, "Oh my God, this guy got 20+?" Such an emotion. Clearly, Hamilton is a player who will make himself disappear.

However, this time he didn't intend to do the same as in previous games, as the team now needs someone to break the deadlock, and Hamilton is the team's leading scorer. When it was the Pistons' turn to attack, he first took Carter to the baseline, then asked Thomas to cover himself, pocketed out from under the basket and then let Big Ben make a second screen, receiving the ball near the three-point line at a 45-degree angle. Moving sideways, taking off, the ball swiped through Carter's fingertips, spun and flew into the basket.

Since hitting the three-pointer, Hamilton has been out of control, and he has actually started to compete with Maddy, and the shooting percentage is even higher. Of course, this is also a normal thing, Carter, who is responsible for defending him, still focuses more on the offensive end, but Prince is dedicated to defending Maddy, and the two are more than the same.

Led by Hamilton, the Pistons gradually closed the point difference, much to Wilkens' chagrin. The old man had always considered his team to be the number one in the league, and Maddie's full-fledged performance at the start of the first quarter cemented his confidence. But I didn't expect to be slapped in the face by the piston so quickly, and it would be a little embarrassing to replace it with anyone.

Originally, Wilkens believed that Carter and McDyce could give Maddy some support, but he underestimated the physical strength and resilience of the Pistons players. Carter is pestered by Hamilton, Billups is occasionally freed up to help, not to mention McDyce, who is on his own against the best defensive player on the inside.

Basically, the entire first quarter was the time between Maddie and Hamilton, who received much more support than Maddie who was alone, and he was more willing to pass the ball than Maddie. Of course, as an organizational forward that Chang Wei focused on cultivating, Maddie is still very good at combing the offense, but his teammates are not very good, and most of the balls he passes are converted into backcourt rebounds for the Pistons, and in desperation, Maddie can only attack with the ball by himself.

However, his performance was really good, and he was able to fight with the Pistons while holding up the team alone, and the Raptors only trailed 28-30 at the end of the first quarter, and Maddy scored 17 points of 28 points alone. And Hamilton was no slouch, although he only scored 12 points, but he handed out 4 assists, it can be said that he is the key to the Pistons can lead the Raptors at the end of the first quarter, and his sudden outburst also surprised Brown on the sidelines.

But that's not the end of it, with the Raptors' talent and ability to cut points, just because the Pistons can take the lead in the first quarter doesn't mean they can win the game, and the two-point advantage is about zero. Brown also doesn't know if Hamilton will be able to continue to be so hot in the coming months, and as a good manager, he has to prepare for the worst.

Brown knew that bench depth was the Pistons' biggest weakness, so he let the starting five play the first quarter, which made him have to switch to the bench at the beginning of the second quarter, otherwise the main players would never make it to the end in the intense playoff game. In order not to reduce the strength of the on-court lineup too much, Brown kept Billups on the court and let him take the bench lineup against the Raptors. Brown believes that with such a commander on the court, the Pistons' offense is not much worse.

Billups didn't have much of an opinion, and he spent relatively little in the first quarter, and for the most part he just needed to pass the ball to Hamilton and make a few more three-pointers along the way. It's a pity that the Pistons' bench is really lacking, except for him and Crawford, basically no one can score on their own, Simmons can still only act as an arrow for a fast-break counterattack, or seize the gap to sneak into the basket, not to mention the aging Manning and the still inexperienced Haywood.

Like Brown, Wilkens also asked Carter to lead the bench lineup, but Carter's scoring ability alone can almost match the Pistons' entire bench lineup. Although Simmons tried hard to limit him, his defense was only a little bit of a stretch for Carter when his defensive ability was completely unmatched to Prince's.

The weakness of the rotation forced Brown to switch to the main team less than five minutes into the second quarter, by which time the Raptors had already overtaken by 10 points, which was not good news for the Pistons.