In the 2000-01 season, Jerry Stackhouse led the NBA in total points scored and finished second with 29.8 points per game — easily the most of his seventeen year career. But his team, the Detroit Pistons, went just 32-50 that season.

“Sometimes less is more,” Stackhouse realized, and the following season, 2001-02, his shot attempts went down by seven per game as his scoring dropped to just over 21 per contest. However, his team flipped their record, going 52-30 and earning the No. 2 seed in the East.

The Pistons drew a first round date with the seventh seeded Toronto Raptors, who were without star shooting guard, Vince Carter as he was forced to shut his season down early with injury, meaning fans would miss out on an all-star matchup at the two.

But the Carter-less Raptors were still a tough group to face, with the likes of Antonio Davis, Keon Clark, Jerome Williams, Morris Peterson, Alvin Williams, Chris Childs, and a 39-year-old Hakeem Olajuwon stepping up in Carter’s absence.

In Game 1, the undermanned Raps were blown out by Stackhouse’s Pistons, losing by 22 points. But Game 2 was a different story altogether. A back-and-forth battle that set the stage for what would be a competitive five-game series — the first round was a best-of-five at the time.

It also featured Stackhouse’s best performance in the series — and his highest scoring playoff performance of the year as he caught fire from beyond the arc, dropping 31 points on 4-for-7 shooting from deep.

Now apart of the Raptors’ organization and head coach of the G-League’s Raptors 905, Sportsnet caught up with Stackhouse to re-watch one of the most memorable games of a career that featured plenty of them.

Go inside the huddle with Jerry Stackhouse for the real story of Game 2 of the Raptors-Pistons 2002 playoff series:

Game 2 Boxscore

Toronto Raptors



Detroit Pistons



screenshots via basketballreference.com