DeRozan perfects his three-pointer in win over Sixers
TORONTO — A chorus of cheers rose in anticipation each time DeMar DeRozan set up for a three-point shot Saturday night.
This new side of DeRozan’s game certainly isn’t lost on Toronto Raptors fans.
DeRozan drilled four three-pointers, and had 16 of his 29 points in the third quarter, as the Raptors won for the 10th consecutive time at the Air Canada Centre, beating the Philadelphia 76ers, 102-86, in National Basketball Association play.
“It’s great. It’s something I’ve always worked on, I’ve just always got caught up in my comfort zone of being dominant in my mid-range and getting to my spots,” DeRozan said before bolting to catch a flight home for Christmas.
“Now, having that same mentality from the three-point line as well, that’s all it is. You can tell by the way I shoot it, by the way I let it go, it’s the same way if it was a midrange. That’s my mentality now when I shoot ’em.”
Serge Ibaka added 17 points, while Delon Wright finished with 14, and Kyle Lowry and Jonas Valanciunas chipped in with 12 points apiece.
The red-hot Raptors (23-8) won for the 12th time in 13 games, and improved their league-best home record to 12-1.
“One thing we always stress, especially me and Kyle, is making this our sanctuary, when we come in here, protecting it at all costs,” DeRozan said. “We always had that reputation of coming in to Toronto, feeding off our fans, it’s a hectic place . ... We try to be dominant every time we step out here on our home floor, and it’s showing.”
Dario Saric led the Sixers (14-18) with 17 points, while Joel Embiid added 14 in his first game in Toronto.
Two nights after digging themselves out of a 22-point hole in Philly, the Raptors led by a mere four points midway through the third quarter, but closed the frame with a 16-2 run that sent Toronto into the fourth with an insurmountable 81-63 lead. “You blink and they go whack, whack,” Sixers coach Brett Brown said of the Raptors.
A three-pointer by Saric capped a 13-4 Sixers run that cut the lead to 12 points with 5:40 to play. But that was as close as Philadelphia would come. With 4:31 to play, Lowry launched a long pass to a sprinting Wright for an easy layup and 16-point lead. Norm Powell’s emphatic dunk with 1:23 to play was the punctuation mark on an entertaining evening.
DeRozan was two days removed from a career-high 45 points and six three-pointers in Philly.
“He did an excellent job of shooting the basketball,” coach Dwane Casey said. “We need him, we need that spark and for him to stretch the floor as well, as he does. He’s been playing at a high level.”
Embiid played his first game in Toronto after missing his first seven here. The big man from Cameroon missed two full seasons with foot injuries after he was drafted third overall in 2014.
Ibaka led the way with 13 points in a first quarter that saw the Raptors lead by just four points, and when Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot drilled a buzzer-beating three, it sent the game into the second tied up at 27-27.
The Sixers were within three midway through the second, but the Raptors outscored their visitors 14-8 the rest of the way, and took a 55-46 lead at the halftime break.
The Raptors play next in Dallas on Boxing Day, then play at Oklahoma City the following night before returning home to host Atlanta on Dec. 29.
Casey and DeRozan are irked the Raptors aren’t part of the much-hyped Christmas Day NBA lineup.
“I wish we were in that group,” Casey said. “I think we’ve earned that right in the last few years to be in that. I don’t know if it’s advertising. I don’t know what the reason is. I think our record is to the point where we deserve to be one of the teams.”