raptors 87 spurs 82

James Johnson poured in a season-high 20 points to lift the Raptors to a rare victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday.

DeMar DeRozan added 18 points, while Amir Johnson had 15 and Kyle Lowry had 12 as Toronto won for the eighth time in its last 10 outings. Jonas Valanciunas grabbed a season-high 16 rebounds in one of Toronto’s best defensive efforts of the season.

The Atlantic Division-leading Raptors (35-17) were coming off a huge 123-107 win over the Clippers on Friday that saw them claw their way back from an early 20-point deficit.

They never led by more than 10 in Sunday’s dogfight, and went into the fourth quarter up 64-58 in front of an Air Canada Centre capacity crowd of 19,800.

The Spurs fought back and a three-pointer by Marco Belinelli with 2:20 to play gave San Antonio a three-point lead. A dunk from Amir Johnson got the fans on their feet and cut the lead to one. Then James Johnson — who started in place of Greivis Vasquez in just his second game back from missing four with a hamstring injury — stepped back to drill a three with 50 seconds left as the crowd roared.

The Raptors dug in on defence on the Spurs’ next possession, then James Johnson sunk a free throw with four seconds left. Duncan chucked the ball across the court and out of bounds to seal the Raptors’ win.

The Spurs were a horrible 31 for 93 shooting, as the Raptors held the Spurs’ big three of Duncan, Tony Parker and Ginobili to a combined 10 for 40.

The Raptors’ five-game homestand ends Wednesday when they host Washington.

The Spurs’ loss leaves coach Gregg Popovich just one win shy of 1,000.