Raptors back in win column with fine effort
DeRozan drives offence with 30-point effort as team finishes with flourish
MIAMI— Kyle Lowry doesn’t waste words or mince them, he answers questions quickly and forthrightly and doesn’t ever beat around the bush.
So as he sat in the Raptors locker room here Friday, the lower half of his body caked in icepacks after another long night of physical basketball, it took him about a nanosecond to describe the play of teammate DeMar DeRozan in the past 10 days.
“All-star,” Lowry said. “He’s playing like an all-star, which he is; it has been a hell of a run and it’s only going to continue.”
It’s hard to disagree with Lowry’s assessment, especially after another gem of a game from DeRozan to salvage the last of a three-game preChristmas road trip for the Raptors.
DeRozan had 30 points on 17 fieldgoal attempts, made 13 trips to the free-throw line and made 10 foul shots, dished out four assists to go along with four rebounds, and had a couple of steals as Toronto pulled away in the final quarter to dump the Heat 108-94.
It was another tour de force for DeRozan, who has now strung together six straight games of 20 or more points. Toronto has won four of those six.
“Not settling,” he said of his recent play. “I used to always settle for a lot of tough shots I knew I could make, but I try to let that be my last resort and be more conscious of that.
“I feel like I can get fouled, I can get to the basket, I can get to the paint when I want. Once I do that, it opens up a lot more options for me to be able to score, get my teammates involved.”
With DeRozan anchoring an offence that had five players in double figures and more efficient ball movement than usual, the Raptors were full measure for the win.
After sleepwalking through the first three minutes of the second half and finding themselves down by11points, they went on a 15-2 run to take a lead they would never relinquish.
There was one tweak to Toronto’s starting lineup that worked as coach Dwane Casey went with James Johnson over Terrence Ross in a move to give the Raptors a better defensive presence.
Each played well enough: Ross had 17 points and only a few of the defensive gaffes that have been so costly; and Johnson had nine of his13 points in the third quarter when Toronto climbed back into the game.
Johnson was tremendous in the dying minutes as well, making a great layup while drawing contact at one key point and finding Patrick Pat- terson with a lightning quick pass for an easy basket in Toronto’s final run.
“It was definitely about Wade,” Johnson said of the switch, echoing the reason given by Casey. “(The) coaches felt it would be a better matchup and luckily I got teammates like T-Ross who take things like that for what they are and (are) still able to play their game.”
Wade finished with 21 points but also committed eight turnovers and had only eight second-half points.
“That’s what a head coach does,” Lowry said of the switch. “He did a great job of figuring it out on the go and that’s what this staff has done a good job on all year . . . figuring these things out and putting us in the right situations to be successful.”
The Raptors will finish the preChristmas portion of the season with home games against Sacramento and Dallas. And despite the excitement of Friday’s win, those two outings now matter more.
“We’re on a mission,” Casey said. “We’re excited about the win, can’t be satisfied. We’ve been in this situation before, a big emotional win. We’ve got a big home game on Sunday and another follow-up on Tuesday so we have to go back and take care of business.”