Toronto proved themselves tonight with an upset win over Detroit. They came in as heavy underdogs in the major sports lines, as well as most pundits' predictions, but that hardly mattered to coach Bob and his team. "All they hype was 'Detroit this; Detroit that' coming into the game. It's like we didn't even exist. I think we proved our point." That they did, led by the spectacularp play of their star, Johnson.

"Coach said that all we had to do was go out and play our best and we could win, and we knew he was right," he said later. "So that's what we did, and we showed that we can play with anyone."

Losing coach David Smith was disappointed with his team's effort. "I think we started believing our own press," he said. "Everyone was saying we'd come away with the easy win, so we went in expecting it to be handed to us on a silver platter. But you've got to give credit where it's due, and Bob had his team playing as well as they've played all year."

Toronto was led by Johnson (19 points, 7 boards, 1 assists, 2 blocks), Lillard (16 points, 8 boards, 1 assists, 2 blocks), Henderson (8 points, 11 boards, 2 assists, a block). Detroit was led by Martin (26 points, a steal, 3 blocks), Day (15 points, 5 boards, 2 assists), White (7 points, 12 boards, 0 assists, a block).

Toronto ended their losing streak at 5 games, and jump to 11-19. They improve to #3 in the Atlantic and move up to #13 overall in the Eastern Conference. Detroit are now 16-13 and 8-7 at home. They stay at #4 in the Central and remain at #9 overall in the Eastern Conference.

box score Toronto roster Detroit* roster