Detroit Pistons edge Toronto Raptors, 114-111 - Jan. 12, 2015

Detroit Pistons guard Brandon Jennings slams the ball to the floor after his game-ending steal from Toronto Raptors rival Kyle Lowry in a scintillating 114-111 win Monday.

(AP Photo/The Canadian Press | Nathan Denette)

TORONTO -- They have won at world champion San Antonio. They beat LeBron James in Cleveland. They two-stepped through Dallas and stormed from behind late here north of the border, in Toronto.

So what, other than their 14-24 record, separates the Detroit Pistons -- winners in nine of their last 10 games -- from being considered one of the best teams in the National Basketball Association right now?

"Other than the record?" Jonas Jerebko said. "I don't know. I mean, we're playing with great confidence. Like I've said before, we've got different guys stepping up every game, we're playing together, and it's fun to play out there. So I don't really know."

Not surprisingly, head coach Stan Van Gundy had a more discerning answer after Monday's 114-111 win over the Toronto Raptors, though he certainly grasped the premise of the question about his talk-of-the-NBA team, now just two games back of eighth-place-and-fading Brooklyn in the Eastern Conference.

"Well, it is the record," Van Gundy said. "And it's honestly what you saw from our defense tonight. You've got to not be able to rely on improbable finishes. You've got to be able to stop people to some degree. And we've done OK, at times. But tonight and in the Atlanta game (the Pistons' only loss in the last 10 games), our defense on these pick-and-roll teams has got to get better, or that's what would separate us."

Oh, you spoil sport.

The Pistons did allow 60 first-half points and required a key second-half defensive switch with Greg Monroe shifting to quell Jonas Valanciunas' interior outburst, then got key late hoops from Jerebko, Jodie Meeks and Brandon Jennings to run their road winning streak to six, one shy of the franchise record.

Jennings said the only thing besides win-loss record separating the Pistons from the NBA's elite is consistency.

With every victory, that gap narrows.

"We've been beating teams that were over .600, so right now, the confidence in this locker room is very high," Jennings said.

The Pistons trailed 104-100 when Jennings worked James Johnson from one side of the court to the other before drawing a hard-earned shooting foul and cashing two free throws with 3:20 left.

Moments later, Meeks missed a 3-pointer, but Jerebko snared the offensive rebound and kicked to Jennings for a go-ahead 3-pointer.

A tip-in by Valanciunas, for the last of his career-high 31 points and 12 rebounds -- with 26 of those points before the switch to put Monroe on him defensively -- gave the Raptors their last lead, 106-105.

Jerebko followed with a pair of jumpers, from 20 and 11 feet, to make it 109-106. He finished with 10 points, four rebounds, two assists and a steal in 26 minutes, and did not hesitate to take the big shots.

"That's been what I've been working on all summer, and that's what I work with every day, shooting the ball, and just playing with confidence," Jerebko said. "If my teammates give me the ball in an open spot, I'm going to shoot it. They have confidence in me making the shot, as you saw today, and it's just fun basketball, sharing the ball."

Jennings and Jerebko have a clear mutual admiration going, largely because of the symbiosis between them.

Jennings is a driver and pick-and-roll guard who creates perimeter openings for Jerebko.

And Jerebko is the floor-stretching power forward who assures Jennings of operating space.

"I think with him being a stretch-four, him being able to knock down shots has really been helping me a whole lot, just when I come off (a screen), because now they can't always track me, they've got to go back to Jonas," Jennings said.

Jerebko has struggled through balky playing time the last four seasons and Jennings noted that the sparring-partner mentality still comes out in him periodically.

"He shows it a lot when he comes out sometimes and he gets a little down on himself," Jennings said of Jerebko. "But I think now, if he keeps getting opportunities like tonight, and he's making shots, and his confidence is high, he'll be all right."

Jennings, meantime, also is playing at or near a career peak in Van Gundy's system after a first season in Detroit which was pockmarked by the midseason firing of a coach he admired, Maurice Cheeks.

Jerebko said Jennings is playing like "the Brandon Jennings I know."

"I've played with him for six years in the league and a year before that in Italy, and I know what he can do, and I know how good he is when he plays with confidence and how he's supposed to play," Jerebko said. "Right now, he's in a good situation, and he's enjoying playing, obviously."

Meeks, whose 3-pointer to beat the shot clock and make it 112-108 with 53.9 seconds left was the game's biggest shot, said he has come to admire Jerebko's professionalism in earning minutes even when playing time sometimes has been unpredictable.

"What he does is not easy," Meeks said. "But when your number's called, you've got to be ready, and you don't have any excuses. He does that. He works hard before practice, after practice and gets his mind right. Tonight was a good example of that."

The Pistons were outshot 54-43 percent from the field but 19 Toronto turnovers, to eight for Detroit, and a big advantage on free throws -- 25 of 31 for the Pistons, 10 of 14 for the Raptors -- made the difference.

After Kentavious Caldwell-Pope made two free throws with 6.6 seconds left, the Raptors had to run their final play with no timeout. The Pistons planned to foul and give Kyle Lowry two free throws instead of a shot at a 3-pointer, but Jennings got the steal cleanly at midcourt, then slammed the ball to the court in jubilation as time expired.

"That was definitely the game plan was to foul," Jennings said. "But the main thing was I was going to try to steal it first, see if I could get a steal, and once I got my hands on it, I just went for the steal."

Jennings finished with 34 points and 10 assists in his latest brilliant performance.

"He's really been terrific here lately," Van Gundy said. "He plays with great aggressiveness and great confidence, and sometimes you're (wincing) about some of his shots. I'm not trying to put a leash on him because he's playing great. You've got to let those guys go. And he's, I think, playing as well as I've seen him play since he came into the league."

Detroit Pistons edge Toronto Raptors, 114-111 - Jan. 12, 2015 11 Gallery: Detroit Pistons edge Toronto Raptors, 114-111 - Jan. 12, 2015

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