Raptors win eighth straight
Between an emotional win in their last game and an early start to this one, there were plenty of reasons why the Toronto Raptors might not be sharp.
And a pretty simple reason why they were.
“We just want to hoop, man,” All-Star DeMar DeRozan said. “Every time we get an opportunity to hoop, we’re going out there and doing what we know how to do and that’s to play, whether if it’s an early game, a late game, whatever it may be. No matter who we’re playing.”
Jonas Valanciunas scored 17 points, Kyle Lowry had 16 and the Raptors kept right on rolling, beating the New York Knicks 132106 on Sunday for their seasonhigh eighth straight victory.
The Raptors had no letdown after edging NBA-leading Houston on Friday in a matchup of the No. 1 teams in each conference, leading much of the game even with DeRozan shooting just 4 for 16 for nine points.
But seven Raptors finished in double figures in Toronto’s 15th win in 16 games. The Raptors fell one point shy of their highest total of the season, set in a victory over Cleveland on Jan. 11.
“They’re playing fantastic basketball right now and they’re continuing with that momentum through this last part of the season,” Knicks forward Tim Hardaway Jr. said. “They’re playing playoff basketball.”
Hardaway scored 25 and Luke Kornet had 18 as the Knicks dropped their seventh straight game and 15th in the last 16.
Coach Dwane Casey talked to the Raptors in the morning about this being a trap game, warning them to forget about their 108-105 victory over Houston and to ignore the Knicks’ record.
But none of that, or the early tip, slowed Toronto, which shot 50.5 per cent.
“All we can do is keep getting better as a team,” Lowry said. “We understand that teams are going to come out there and throw their best shots at us and we’ve got to just maintain.”
The Raptors got a buzzerbeating 3-pointer from CJ Miles to lead 32-27 after one, then one from Malcolm Miller at the half to make it 65-57. And when New York got within seven late in the third quarter, the Raptors closed the period with an 11-2 run to take a 102-86 cushion to the fourth.