Raptors bounce back, beat Boston
TORONTO — Facing a late-season collapse, DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry and the Toronto Raptors focused on what took them to the top of the NBA’s Eastern Conference: defence.
DeRozan led the Raptors with 16 points as Toronto earned a crucial 96-78 win over the Boston Celtics on Wednesday. The victory came after back-to-back losses in Boston on Sunday and in Cleveland on Tuesday as the Raptors allowed their conference rivals to score 110 points or more.
“To be a good team, that’s how you have to respond,” said DeRozan. “When you have games like we had last night, you have to understand let’s tighten up, understand our mistakes and come out the next night and handle business.”
Toronto had lost five of its past 10 games heading into Wednesday night but now has a three-game lead over Boston for first in the Atlantic Division and the East. The Cavaliers lead the Central Division and sit third in the conference but are eight games back of the Raptors.
All three teams have four regular-season games remaining.
“Every single one of them is extremely important,” said DeRozan. “Once next weekend starts, it’s literally win or go home. There’s no ‘my bads’ or ‘I’ll get the next one.’ These four games are critical and us playing extremely hard and having a rhythm and understand that our confidence has to be at an all-time high headed into next week.”
Lowry finished with 13 points, five rebounds and five assists, his highest scoring outing for the Raptors (56-22) in the past four games. More importantly, Lowry led Toronto with a plus-20 defensive rating.