One thing was for certain: the Detroit Pistons were not going to let an offense rebound dictate the outcome of this game. With the score tied at 100 and the clock sitting at 22 seconds, the Pistons gave Jaden Ivey the ball and asked him to win the game. Ivey obliged by hitting a an off-ballance baseline push shot over Ochai Agbaji to give the Pistons the 102-100 win over the Toronto Raptors.

Ivey was the clear star of the game for Detroit. Starting at point guard for the sidelined Cade Cunningham, Ivey scored 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting and dished eight assists. He played smart basketball under control and was the only reason Detroit was in the game to begin with.

After hitting shots early and taking a quick 14-point lead, the Pistons offense abandoned them, and their defensive and rebounding deficiencies were on clear display. Toronto was able to snake past defenders and get second-chance opportunities as the defense struggled to rotate, box out and snare long rebounds.

The game was mostly back-and-forth in the second half with the Pistons spending most of that time trailing anywhere from one to six points. Never too far away but not really able to get over the hump. In truth, among two struggling offenses — Detroit hit 44% from the floor and 32% from deep compared to 39% and 28% for Toronto — the Pistons probably out-executed the Raptors by a hair. But it doesn’t matter if you can’t hit your first shot when you get three to four attempts so many times down the floor.

Toronto saw 25 of its 100 points come as second-chance points. I can’t remember a time when a team saw a full quarter of their offensive output come via second-chance points, but I saw it tonight. The Raptors had a 23 to 6 offensive rebound advantage. It was repulsive to watch as a Pistons fan.

Detroit, simply, is a pretty small team, and that gets exacerbated when you’re facing a range long-limbed team like Toronto who entered tonight as the NBA’s best offensive rebounding team. Missing Cade Cunningham doesn’t make it any easier as it meant the Pistons were starting Malik Beasley and Tim Hardaway Jr. on the wings. That’s great if those two veterans are scorching from distance. Tonight, the duo combined to shoot 5-of-19 from deep, mostly courtesy of a horrid 3-of-14 night from Beasley.

The good news for Detroit is, well, the Raptors are not a very good team. Scottie Barnes was the best player on either team with 31 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists. The other Raps subsided on putbacks and some timely threes. The second piece of good news for the Pistons is that when they want to, they can defend.

It was a relief to see JB Bickerstaff mostly lean into a defensive lineup in crunch time with both Isaiah Stewart and Ausar Thompson on the floor. It was Ausar’s first NBA action since last March after battling a blood clot issue. Ausar played 16 minutes in total. His first NBA bucket of the season? A corner three, of course. Hey, the shot looked pretty clean.

His second of two baskets was more consequential. Stewart contested a Barnes driving layup and pushed the ball up the floor to Ausar who was able to make a running layup in transition on the other end. The score gave Detroit its first lead since 67-65 with just under 5 minutes remaining in the third quarter.

RJ Barrett was able to answer with a 3 on the other end, but Stewart had a another solid contest of a Davion Mitchell layup attempt. The Pistons again pushed the ball and found a driving Ivey, who was able to knife into the lane and tie the score at 98.

The Pistons were again able to deny the Raptors attempting to score at the rim on the next possession down the floor and in a scrum, the Detroit was able to find Malik Beasley who pushed the ball and found Beef Stew who had snuck beyond the defense for a running layup to put Detroit up 100-98.

Scottie Barnes took the ball right to Tobias Harris on the ensuing possession and use his strength and length to muscle up a clean look at the rim to tied the score at 100. That left 22 seconds for Ivey to work his magic.

It was a fitting end for Ivey, who deserves good things to happen after the great start to this season he’s had and the season he survived last year. Detroit has plenty of issues to clean up. Beating a four-win Toronto team who has yet to win on the road at all this season is no panacea. But a win is a win and Detroit needed one after losing three straight.

Detroit’s eighth win of the season means the team could lose its next 31 games and still be ahead of last season’s pace.

(CBS DETROIT) — General Motors and real estate firm Bedrock announced Monday a development plan for the Renaissance Center and 27 acres along the Detroit Riverfront. 

The proposal calls for preserving Detroit’s skyline, right-sizing the complex’s footprint and connecting the site to “the heart of downtown.”

“This iconic landmark’s future is important to Detroit and Michigan, and our shared vision with General Motors ensures that its redevelopment aligns with Detroit’s economic advancement,” said Kofi Bonner, CEO of Bedrock. “Additionally, our collaborative approach makes certain that the reimagined Renaissance Center and the riverfront further augment and support the city’s continued growth, benefiting the community and region at large.”

GM and Bedrock propose: 

• Creating a new pedestrian promenade connecting the heart of the city to the riverfront.
• Removing the low-rise base of the complex and the two office towers nearest the river, creating an inviting destination and reducing obsolete office space.
• Redeveloping three towers into a mix of hospitality and housing, preserving the essence of the skyline.
• Turning reclaimed land into signature public spaces.
• Reconfiguring the flow of the site to allow direct access to the buildings and the riverfront. 

In April, the two companies announced an agreement that called for plans to redevelop the RenCen and have GM move its headquarters into a new space in 2025 at the site of the former J.L. Hudson Department Store in downtown Detroit. 

“GM has the best possible partner with Bedrock in this effort to redevelop the Renaissance Center,” said Dave Massaron, Vice President of Infrastructure and Corporate Citizenship for General Motors, in a release. “Nobody has repurposed more buildings in Detroit than Dan Gilbert and his Bedrock team. This is another chapter in their unprecedented commitment to building the best possible future for the city and Michigan.”

While Bedrock and GM have committed to funding a majority of the redevelopment project, the remainder is contingent on public funding. The two sides will meet with state and local leaders in the coming weeks and determine if it’s possible to move forward with the plan. 

“We’ve said since the very beginning of this process that we were going to make a realistic decision about preserving as much of the Renaissance Center as possible,” said Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan in a statement. “Dan Gilbert’s vision gives us a path forward to preserve and reuse three of the towers and, at the same time, creates a beautiful expansion of public space on the Detroit riverfront. We will need a public-private partnership to get this done and avoid the decades of inaction that accompanied so many other Detroit landmarks, like Hudson’s, Michigan Central Station, AMC Headquarters, and the Packard Plant. I am grateful for Dan Gilbert’s leadership in trying to prevent that fate for the Renaissance Center.” 

The concept of the RenCen was first conceived by Henry Ford II in the 1970s and was opened in 1976. GM purchased the complex in 1996 and, following renovations, moved its world headquarters there. 

The Detroit People Mover is scheduled to be back in operation ahead of America’s Thanksgiving Parade.

The 2.9-mile elevated rail system, which had been on hiatus for scheduled track replacement since early September, will also be extending its hours permanently following the holiday, according to a news release.

That holiday schedule will include a nonstop stretch of more than 36 hours, beginning at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday and ending at 7 p.m. Thursday. Trains are likely to be running on Monday and Tuesday, too, but won’t be carrying passengers, according to Ericka Alexander, a spokeswoman for the system.

Robert Cramer, general manager of the Detroit Transportation Corp., the entity that operates the system, said the track replacement work involved cutting and removing sections of rail before hoisting and welding the new pieces into place.

The process for doing the work and resuming regular service isn’t as simple as flipping a switch, he said, describing it as a “carefully orchestrated show.”

Officials had previously said almost 7,000 feet of rail — about 20% of the total — was being replaced as part of the $5 million maintenance project, the third such effort since the system began operations in 1987.

When regular service resumes on Friday, after the holiday, operating hours will be extended during the bulk of the week and on Sundays going forward.

Here’s the upcoming regular operating schedule:

• Monday-Friday: 6:30 a.m.-midnight
• Saturday: 10 a.m.-midnight
• Sunday: 10 a.m.-10 p.m.

Cramer said the later hours during the week (Monday through Thursday close had previously been 10:30 p.m., for instance) and half-hour earlier start time line up with feedback that had been gathered from riders and basically covers the extended hours that the system had been employing for many special events this year. The 6:30 a.m. weekday start time means that riders who need to be at work by 7 a.m. can also use the system in the morning.

The new operating hours can also be managed with current staffing, he said.

Asked if around-the-clock service could be an option in the future, Cramer noted that People Mover staff rely on the system’s downtime for maintenance and other work that needs to happen.

The People Mover remains free to ride, at least through the end of next year.

Upcoming People Mover events

• Wednesday 6-10 p.m. — The DPM Raid Train returns with a special DJ planned at the Broadway Station.
• Thursday 7-10 a.m. — A hot cocoa and hand-warmers event for the Thanksgiving Day crowd is scheduled for the Grand Circus Park Station.

Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Become a subscriber. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters.