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 Kyle Lowry had 21 points and six assists for the Raptors (29-15),
who are riding the second-longest winning streak in franchise
history. They won nine in a row in 2002.
"I thought that second unit got their togetherness and their rhythm
and their chemistry going that we're going to need as we go down the
road," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said.
Clippers coach Doc Rivers pointed the finger at his bench players.
"It's rare when you lose by 18 points and your starters all have a
plus," he said. "That doesn't happen very often. The bench has been
good, but tonight they were awful."
Toronto took a 16-point lead in the third quarter, and the Clippers
trimmed it to four before the Raptors extended the margin to 22
points during the fourth.
"The starters came back in and cut it to four, we subbed out and it
went back to 20, so it was just one of those nights," Rivers said.
The Clippers (28-16) struggled at the free-throw line, going
18-for-30.
The Raptors, who were 18-for-26 from the line, had seven players
score in double figures.
Jonas Valanciunas had 20 points and eight rebounds, and DeMar
DeRozan added 18 points for the Raptors, ending his string of three
consecutive games with 30 or more points.
Terrence Ross contributed 18 points, Cory Joseph added 12, Patrick
Patterson had 10, and reserve center Bismack Biyombo finished with
10 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
DeRozan gave credit to the contribution from the reserves.
"It was big," he said. "This whole week and a half, the bench has
been great for us, honestly. We have taken advantage of it, and
that's been great with the balance that we've been able to sustain
throughout these past couple of games."
Chris Paul scored 23 points and distributed 11 assists for the
Clippers. J.J. Redick added 17 points, and DeAndre Jordan scored 15
and grabbed 13 rebounds.
"Turnovers and then we couldn't stop them from scoring," said
Clippers reserve forward Jamal Crawford, who had three points in 19
minutes.
"That falls on us. It's nothing that the coaching staff did. The
first unit did their job. That's the second unit, we've got to be
better."
The Clippers lost for only the third time in the past 15 games, but
those defeats came in the past five games. They are 11-3 without
injured forward Blake Griffin.
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Los Angeles had an 8-0 run in the first quarter and opened a
13-point lead before ending the quarter with a 34-27 advantage.
"We gave up 34 in the first quarter and I thought it was going to be
a long night," Casey said. "The second unit came in, Terrence (Ross)
and that group changed the game, started getting into bodies and
getting into players, being physical."
The Raptors scored the first seven points of the second quarter to
tie the game. Toronto ran off 10 more points in a row to lead 44-35.
Lowry's 3-pointer had the Raptors ahead 54-40. Toronto was in front
62-49 at halftime and had 32 points off the bench.
"It's tough," Paul said. "To get off to the start we got off to and
to let those guys back into the game, we just never recovered. ...
It's not about the first unit or the second unit, it's about our
team. There have been nights when the starters have come out and
haven't played well and the second unit has brought us back."
After the Raptors led by 16 points early in the third quarter, the
Clippers reduced their deficit to six points on a 3-pointer by
forward Paul Pierce. Jordan followed with a layup to cut the deficit
to four. DeRozan's 3-pointer closed the third quarter and gave
Toronto an 83-71 lead.
Ross hit a 3-pointer with 8:37 left in the game to put the Raptors
into an 18-point lead. A hook shot from Valanciunas bumped the lead
to 20.
"Moving the ball on the offensive side and getting a couple of stops
on the defensive end," Patterson said. "All of us just communicating
on the defensive side, and I think tonight was probably one of our
best games collectively as a second unit."
(Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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