Lowry returns and leads Raptors to victory
AUBURN HILLS, MICH. — Kyle Lowry had 27 points and 10 assists in his return from a wrist injury and the Toronto Raptors rallied to beat the Detroit Pistons, 105-102, in National Basketball Association action Wednesday night.
Back in the lineup after missing 18 games, Lowry helped the Raptors overcame a 20-point firsthalf deficit. Toronto moved a halfgame ahead of the Washington Wizards for third place in the East.
Raptors’ Jonas Valanciunas had 11 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, and Cory Joseph added 15.
For Detroit, Ish Smith and Tobias Harris had 16 points each.
The Pistons dropped to 11th in the conference, three games behind Miami, Chicago and Indiana with four games to play.
Serge Ibaka’s three-pointer gave Toronto its first lead of the game with 1:20 to play, but Marcus Morris answered with a trey to tie it at 100 with 1:09 left.
Valanciunas put the Raptors back in front, and Smith’s short jumper spun out with 50 seconds left. DeMar DeRozan followed with a 20-footer to give the Raptors a 104-100 lead with 25.6 seconds left.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope made it 104-102, and the Pistons fouled Valanciunas with 7.1 seconds to play.
He split the free throws to put Toronto up three, and Caldwell-Pope and Harris both missed tying shots.
Detroit started the game without Caldwell-Pope (family reasons), while starting point guard Reggie Jackson remains sidelined to rest a bad knee. Caldwell-Pope joined his teammates on the bench late in the second quarter, and was on the floor to begin the third quarter.
The Pistons got off to a rare quick start, leading 29-13 after nine minutes despite their makeshift starting backcourt.
Smith was able to consistently beat Lowry to the rim, opening up the rest of the offence.
Lowry, though, finished the half with 16 points and Toronto only trailed 56-46 at the intermission. The Raptors started the third quarter with a 6-0 run that was aided by a flagrant foul committed on Lowry by Drummond.
Detroit moved the margin back to 80-68 by the end of the quarter, but Toronto’s three-point shooting kept the game close into the final minutes.
Lowry’s three-point play cut the deficit to 95-93 with 3:27 to play, and DeRozan tied it with a layup.