Lowry’s triple-double leads Raptors past Nets
Kyle Lowry was already ill, then he was injured. Neither was going to keep him off the floor with the Toronto Raptors badly needing a victory. Lowry finished with 15 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists for his ninth career triple-double, and the Raptors beat the Brooklyn Nets, 103-95, on Sunday. Already feeling sick, Lowry needed four stitches after cutting his right forearm on a camera mounted to the basket stanchion. But he played more than 39 minutes for his first triple-double of the season. “It’s a part of the game. You’re going to get injured, you’re going to get hurt. It’s just how you find ways to get through it, and I’m always going to find a way to get through it.” Playing again without leading scorer DeMar DeRozan, the slumping Raptors ended a two-game skid and won for just the third time in 11 games. Jonas Valanciunas led with 22 points. Terrence Ross had 17 points for the Raptors, who extended their longest winning streak ever against the Nets to eight. Brooklyn cut a 17-point deficit to four midway through the fourth quarter, but Lowry soon took over, throwing a lob to Valanciunas for a basket, making a pair of free throws and then finding DeMarre Carroll for a basket that pushed the lead back into double digits at 92-82.
TIP-INS
RAPTORS: Lowry finished 0 for 5 from threepoint range and remained with 799 treys with the Raptors, two behind Morris Peterson’s franchise record . ... Patrick Patterson also sat out after leaving Toronto’s loss in Orlando on Friday with a bruised left knee. He has missed 11 of the last 20 games with knee injuries.
DWANE’S DISAPPOINTMENT The Raptors’ struggles cost Casey a chance to coach the Eastern Conference at the all-star game. The coach whose team had the second-highest winning percentage through Sunday’s games — Cleveland’s Tyronn Lue is ineligible after coaching last year — earned the spot, and Boston’s Brad Stevens clinched it Friday. Casey said he was disappointed, but only because that meant the Raptors weren’t playing well. “I’d much rather for us to be playing well right now more so than coaching in the all-star game,” Casey said. “If we were in third playing well I’d be happy, but I’m more upset about not playing well and everybody not being healthy than coaching in the all-star game.”
O NO CANADA Raptors players and coaches looked around in confusion during the singing of Canada’s national anthem, as Broadway performer Amber Iman included some lyrics that aren’t in “O Canada.” “I’m going to leave that alone, but yeah, that anthem was a lot different than I’ve heard over the last five years. A lot different,” Lowry said. “Her voice was beautiful but the anthem, the song, the words ... have her come to Toronto, we’ll come and get somebody to give her some lessons.”
UP NEXT
RAPTORS: Host the Clippers on Monday. Los Angeles won the first meeting this season after the Raptors won the previous four. NETS: Travel on Tuesday to Charlotte, where they have lost three in a row.