Raps build on their buzz by shooing away Hornets
DeMar DeRozan had a team-high 19 points as the Toronto Raptors defeated the Charlotte Hornets 103-98 on Sunday at the Air Canada Centre.
DeRozan added eight assists and four rebounds while Jonas Valanciunas chipped in 18 points and 13 rebounds.
C.J. Miles and Fred Van-Vleet each had 12 points off the bench.
The victory gave Toronto (45-17) a two-game lead on the idle Boston Celtics atop the Eastern Conference standings. The Raptors swept the season series with the Hornets, winning all four meetings.
Kemba Walker had a game-high 27 points, six rebounds and four assists to lead the Hornets (28-36), who have now lost three straight.
Frank Kaminsky added 15 points and four rebounds off the bench while Jeremy Lamb added 16 points.
Charlotte entered Sunday’s action 10th in the Eastern Conference, five games back of the Miami Heat for the eighth and final playoff spot.
The Hornets cut Toronto’s lead to two with 5:11 to play in the fourth, but Kyle Lowry responded for the Raptors, draining a 27-foot three-pointer. Toronto led by at least three the rest of the way.
Serge Ibaka had 17 and Valanciunas added 16 as the Raptors led 82-69 after three.
Walker had 15 points for Charlotte while Nicolas Batum and Dwight Howard each had 10 through three quarters.
The Hornets opened the second half on a 13-6 surge, cutting Toronto’s lead to two, prompting head coach Dwane Casey to call a timeout with 6:58 to play.
The Raptors responded out of the time out as Ibaka and Valanciunas hit back-to-back threes and Lowry got a layup to fall. Toronto used a 19-8 run to push their lead to 13 with 2:28 to play in the quarter.
Ibaka led the way with 11 points and four rebound as the Raptors held a 52-43 lead at the break. Valanciunas and DeRozan each had nine points while Miles added nine off the bench after two quarters. Toronto led 26-21 after one quarter on nine points and three rebounds from Valanciunas. Ibaka added seven points.
The Raptors used a 9-0 run to jump out to a 13-4 lead, prompting the Hornets to take their first full time out with 8:29 to play.
Raptors forward OG Anunoby missed his second game with an ankle injury.
Malcolm Miller made his first career start in Anunoby’s place.
PACERS 98, WIZARDS 95
Victor Oladipo scored 33 points, Bojan Bogdanovic added 20 and the visiting Indiana Pacers defeated Washington to overtake the Wizards by a half-game in the crowded Eastern Conference standings.
Myles Turner added 12 points and 13 rebounds for Indiana, which almost gave away a 17-point lead but never trailed in a victory that vaulted the team into fourth place in the East. The Pacers finished their four-game road trip 2-2 after beginning it with two losses.
Bradley Beal scored 22 points and had a career-high 11 assists for Washington, which lost its third straight for the first time this season.
Beal, the Wizards’ leading scorer this season, shot just eight of 27 from the floor, missing three potential tying or go-ahead shots inside the final 19 seconds.
And as Washington fell to 10-6 without all-star point guard John Wall, sidelined by knee surgery, Beal also committed two of his five turnovers on late possessions when the Wizards could have tied or taken the lead.
Otto Porter Jr. added 17 points for the Wizards, who sank to fifth place, a half-game ahead of the Philadelphia 76ers, who played later Sunday.
Down 17, Washington climbed back with a 12-0 run that began late in the third quarter and stretched into the fourth. Beal scored seven in that span, and then found Jodie Meeks for a three-pointer that cut it to 80-75 with 9:44 left.
The Wizards got within one before Beal missed a transition layup with Oladipo and Cory Joseph contesting to keep the score 96-95 with 19 seconds left.
From there, Oladipo and Joseph each hit one of two free throws, and Beal missed a game-tying jumper attempt on one possession before his look at a game-tying threepointer fell short near the buzzer.
Beal has been Washington’s leading scorer even with Wall in the lineup. But he’s just 18 for 56 — 32.1 per cent — from the floor during Washington’s three-game skid. That’s well off the 46.1 per cent season average he brought into Sunday.