Toronto’s trip ends with a trouncing
TheTorontoRaptorsoffered no excuses at the end of a twoweek road trip, and the San Antonio Spurs didn’t show any pity.
Kawhi Leonard had 25 points and LaMarcus Aldridge added 23 as the Spurs whipped Toronto 110-82 on Tuesday night, holding the Raptors to their lowest output of the season.
Toronto was playing its sixth straight road game in 12 days, but did not blame fatigue for falling 29 points below its season average.
“I think they just came out and beat our butts,” said Kyle Lowry, limited to a season-low six points.
San Antonio dominated a matchup of teams with the second-best record in each conference, leading by as many as 34 points.
The Spurs shot 55 percent from the field, collecting 32 assists on 43 field goals while capturing their eighth straight win at home.
“I thought we made the extra pass,” Aldridge said. “It’s justthewayourguysplayhere. They found the open guy trying to get to the rim. We were playing with confidence, moving the ball out there.”
Aldridge and Leonard combined to shoot 19 for 28 from the field, but it was veteran point guard Tony Parker who set the tone for the Spurs.
Parker finished with 15 points and eight assists in 23 minutes.
“Even when he’s not making (his tear-drop shot), guys always have to respect him getting to the lane,” Leonard said. “He has a vision to see us out there. He’s always drawing two guys and someone’s always open.”
After scoring the game’s opening basket on a floater, Parker drove the lane and tossed the ball out to Aldridge and Pau Gasol for mid-range jumpers and to Danny Green for a 3-pointer.
“That was a championship performance by a championship team,” Toronto coach Dwane Casey said.
“That’s the way you come out with a championship approach and desperation mode and we didn’t meet it. It started from the first play.”
The Spurs raced to a 26-10 lead in the opening eight minutes, and the Raptors never recovered.
Parker set up three straight dynamic plays in the first half that put the Raptors on their heels and gave the Spurs their largest lead at 54-32 with 2:28 left in the first half.
Green’s steal and half-court pass led to a one-handed, breakaway dunk for Leonard that revved up the sold-out crowd.
Parker dribbled around his back on the run to lose Lowry at the top of the 3-point line, got DeMar DeRozan to leap in the paint and then whipped a pass to the left corner for a 3-pointer from Leonard.
Parkerthenpassedunderthe basket to Aldridge, who tossed it out to Leonard. He faked a shot,dribbled,resetandmadea 3 for a 22-point lead.
“Usually we try to make that comeback, but they kept putting their foot on the gas,” DeRozan said.
DeRozan led Toronto with 26 points, but Lowry was held to 2-for-9 shooting.
“We knew that DeRozan and Kyle are the top offensive threats on that team,” Gasol said. “We wanted to make it tough on them.”
The Spurs had a seasonhigh 15 blocks and forced 14 turnovers.
Toronto is winless against the NBA’s top three teams, losing three games to Cleveland andtwotoGoldenStatebefore falling to San Antonio.
“We’ve got to get better if we want to compete with the best of the best,” Lowry said.
“We’ve got to be better if we want to win it all.”