Milestone night for Carter
TORONTO 124 ATLANTA 108
ATLANTA — Vince Carter grabbed his career milestone with a last-second dunk — long after his first NBA team had the victory secured.
Kyle Lowry scored 21 points during his first triple-double of the season and the Toronto Raptors never trailed while beating the reeling Atlanta Hawks 124-108 on Wednesday night.
The night’s final bow belonged to Carter, whose jam with less than a second remaining pushed him past 25,000 career points. He became the 22nd NBA player to reach the milestone and then tossed some love toward the Raptors.
“I’m very thankful for every team that I’ve played for,” Carter said. “... But there’s nothing like your first.”
Carter, who played his first seven seasons with Toronto, began the night 13 points shy of the mark. The Hawks were pulling for Carter, in his 21st season, to reach the milestone against his former team.
“I still love it,” he said. “I still love playing.”
Carter, 41, sank a threepointer with less than two minutes remaining and, clearly aiming for the milestone, missed two more 3s before being fouled with 33.9 seconds remaining.
Carter pulled with one point of 25,000 when he sank two free throws after a video review overruled the original call he was fouled on a three-pointer. On Atlanta’s final possession, he missed a jumper before rookie Kevin Huerter grabbed the rebound and passed back to Carter, setting up the buzzerbeating jam. Carter’s 14 points gave him 25,001 for his career.
Players from both teams hugged Carter at midcourt.
“He earned it,” Lowry said. “It’s awesome to do it against the team he started with.”