Raptors buckle down and give Warriors a scare

TORONTO — For DeMar DeRozan and the Toronto Raptors, it was a tale of two halves.

Klay Thompson had 26 points while Kevin Durant added 25 as the Golden State Warriors held on for a wild 127-125 road win over the Raptors on Saturday night.

DeRozan finished with 42 points — cracking the 30-point plateau for a club-record 92nd time. After spotting Golden State a 27-point half-time lead, DeRozan and Co. outscored Golden State 71-46 in the second, but fell agonizingly short of a monumental comeback win.

“We went out there and just played all-out,” DeRozan said. “We didn’t think too much, we just went out there and played hard. We were just too antsy [in first half], jumping at everything they did, over-reacting. In the second half we just buckled down.”

OG Anunoby added 17 points for Toronto (29-12), which suffered just its third home loss, but finished a three-game homestand 1-2. Serge Ibaka, returning after a one-game suspension, had 14 points.

The defending-champion Warriors (league-best 35-9 record) earned their NBA-leading 19th road win and eighth straight victory over Toronto. Stephen Curry, the two-time league MVP, had 24 points in his return to Golden State’s lineup after missing two games with an ankle injury.

“It’s sore, but it felt good enough to play,” Curry said. “I don’t feel limited out there, but you just feel it. It was a fun, competitive battle.”

DeRozan’s layup moved Toronto to within 121-119 with 2:08 left, but Durant countered to give the Warriors a four-point lead. DeRozan then responded by cutting the Raptors’ deficit to 123-122 with 1:03 to play. After Curry missed the two free throws with 45.2 seconds left, Durant’s field goal with 21.3 seconds left put Golden State ahead 125-122. Curry made up for his earlier misses by hitting two free throws with 2.5 seconds left. Fred Van Vleet’s three-pointer at the buzzer rounded out the scoring.