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Mo Williams also added 23 points to go along with seven
assists for the Hornets, who have won four straight games.
Gerald Henderson tallied 13 points and Cody Zeller had 12 points
and seven boards for Charlotte, which went 18-of-20 from the
free-throw line.
DeMar DeRozan led the way with 30 points for the Raptors, who
have dropped seven of their last eight. Kyle Lowry tallied 25
points after sitting out the previous three games while Terrence
Ross had eight points and seven assists in his first start since
Jan. 8 for Toronto, which turned the ball over just five times.
Lowry and Ross buried back-to-back 3-pointers to pull the
Raptors within 68-67 but they trailed 77-71 heading into the
fourth despite 15 third-quarter points from DeRozan. Charlotte
held Toronto without a field goal for over five minutes in the
fourth to pull ahead 91-75, and Zeller's two-handed slam pushed
the margin to 17 with 3:47 left as the Hornets cruised to their
eighth straight home victory in the series.
Henderson connected from beyond the arc to give the Hornets a
21-10 lead before Jonas Valanciunas keyed a 14-4 run to cut the
deficit to one heading into the second quarter. Charlotte
knocked down its last five shots of the first half to go into
the break on top 53-44 before DeRozan converted a three-point
play as part of a 9-0 spurt to close the gap to 57-53.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Jefferson has scored at least 22 points in seven
straight meetings with the Raptors. … Lowry was assessed a
flagrant foul 1 for shoving Lance Stephenson in the fourth
quarter. … Charlotte F Michael Kidd-Gilchrist secured 11
rebounds to help the Hornets win the battle of the boards 56-32.
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