Hot hand (you know who) rescues Raps
DeRozan’s late spree offsets Walker’s 40 when all seemed lost
CHARLOTTE, N.C.— The game is on the line, the ball is going to be in his hands, the attention is all on him, and DeMar DeRozan calms down because there’s only one thing to focus on.
“Win. Win. Just win,” he said after the Raptors rallied in the final four minutes to pull out a 113-111 victory over the Charlotte Hornets at the Spectrum Center here Friday night.
“As long as I know I’m out there trying whatever I need to do to win, I’m fine with that. That’s just my mentality. Understanding teammates look to you, coaches look to you, and this is what you work for, to be in that position. I try to make the most out of them every time.”
He certainly did again Friday, piling up 34 points — his seventh 30-plus game in eight starts this season — and dominating down the stretch.
After the Raptors had blown a 16point lead and given up an astonishing 38 points in the third quarter, while playing defence as if they were allergic to it, their offensive leader came to the rescue. DeRozan re-entered the game with Toronto down by four and proceeded to score 10 points, get one steal, dish out an assist and grab a rebound. A finishing flourish, indeed. “I’ve been watching him for a long time, but it’s honestly crazy what he is doing,” teammate Norm Powell said of DeRozan. “We are witnessing history. It’s great to watch.”
The Raptors needed the late-game histrionics because they had been awful for long stretches of the second half. They couldn’t control Charlotte’s Kemba Walker, who scored 40 points, and were crushed by the weight of 15 Hornets three-pointers. But they did some double-teaming of Walker down the stretch, got some defensive energy from backups Powell and Lucas Noguiera, and figured it all out just in time.
“The players that come in whenever their name is called are willing to do whatever it takes to win,” DeRozan said, “understanding both ends of the floor to help us maximize our full potential out there — and it shows. They did a great job.”
Powell spent the first three quarters on the bench, but played the final 10 minutes and was part of the multiple looks Toronto threw at Walker.
“It’s great that he’s looking down the line when we need stops, or we need somebody to go in there and change the game up and he puts you in there,” Powell said. “I feel like I’m building a little bit of trust in that, just waiting for my opportunities when they come, and just going in there and trying to make an impact when I play.”
Toronto was back at full strength with the return of starting centre Jonas Valanciunas (knee) and backup forward Terrence Ross (finger). Va- lanciunas had 12 points and eight rebounds in 21 minutes, while Ross played a key role in Toronto’s big second quarter with eight points.
With Valanciunas back, rookie big man Jakob Poeltl did not play. Nogueira, impressive in a season-best stint Wednesday in Oklahoma City, had 10 points and seven rebounds.
“I thought Lucas did a good job,” said Raptors coach Dwane Casey. “One of the reasons why we didn’t have (Valanciunas) in was because Lucas was a little bit more mobile, a little bit more active in the pick-androll situations.”