Raps win on breakneck second half

ORLANDO, FLA. It might have started to look a little like that loss to Atlanta Hawks on Friday night, but this Toronto Raptors team learns from its mistakes.

Just like Atlanta, the Raptors got jumped on by the Orlando Magic. The beating lasted a little over a quarter, long enough for the home side to jump out to a seven-point lead at the end of the first. It got up to as many as 11 early in the second and then the Raptors locked things down defensively.

From the first couple of minutes in the second half to the end of the game, the Raptors outscored the Magic by 51 turning an interesting game into a 109-79 blowout. The Magic would score just 28 points in the second half.

It was the kind of defence even head coach Dwane Casey, who has been as critical as anyone of the Raptors lately, had to like.

Casey has been coaxing and cajoling his team back to their defensive ways for weeks now and saw intermittent progress, but the final three quarters was the longest stretch of continuously hard defence they have played in over a month.

DeMar DeRozan led the way offensively with 31 points, but the Raptors also got big games out of Kyle Lowry, with 16 points and 10 assists, and from Jonas Valanciunas, who contributed 16 points and 13 rebounds.

The rebounding had been a huge focus since the Atlanta game. Even against the Raptors’ former chairman of the boards, Bismack Biyombo, and another Magic giant in Nikola Vucevic, the Raps won the rebounding battle 47-42.

The Raptors were without backup point guard Cory Joseph, who was back in the hotel fighting the flu. But rather than take a step back with the loss of one of their top defenders, the Raptors went to the next guy and were pleasantly surprised with what they got.

With the win, the Raptors improved to 19-8. They host the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday.