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 On Tuesday, the Raptors led every step of the way and held on to
defeat the Dallas Mavericks 103-99.
They did it with a fast start, leading by as many as 18 points in
the first quarter.
"We just have to have a sense of urgency right out of the gate and
understand that teams are coming after us," said guard DeMar
DeRozan, who led Toronto with 28 points. "We can't wait and we have
to be the ones to throw the first punch and that's what we did
tonight."
"We had our (butt) kicked at the beginning of the game," Mavericks
coach Rick Carlisle said. "We knew they were going to come out hard.
They did the exact same thing (in winning) in Dallas. They're coming
off a tough loss, they're aggressive by nature. We really knew it,
we talked about it and we didn't handle it well. Frankly, it was
embarrassing."
Guard Kyle Lowry compiled 17 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists
for the Raptors (19-12) and center Bismack Biyombo had nine points
and a career-best 20 rebounds.
"He giveth, he taketh but I tell you what, he is a man in the
paint," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said of Biyombo. "When they are
driving and looking to see where he is, when he gets those rebounds,
I would like to see how many times he gets fouled in those
situations."
The Mavericks (15-13) cut the lead to two points with 11.6 seconds
to play when forward Jeremy Evans made a layup and was fouled. He
missed his free throw and Toronto forward completed a 16-point night
by hitting two free throws.
Forward Luis Scola added 15 points and nine rebounds for Toronto and
guard Cory Joseph had 12 points.
Forward Dirk Nowitzki led the Mavericks with 20 points and seven
rebounds, forward Wesley Matthews added 15 points.
Nowitzki is nine points short of tying center Shaquille O?Neal for
sixth place overall in career NBA scoring at 28,596 points.
Each team had players leave the game.
Mavericks guard Deron Williams was limited to seven points when he
left the game in the third quarter with a hamstring injury and did
not return.
"My hamstring's been a little tight the last couple of games,"
Williams said, holding out hope that he could play Wednesday in
Brooklyn. "The hamstrings) were a little tighter than normal. Then
as soon as I went back out there, I went to plant and push off and
just felt a little pop."
Raptors forward Patrick Patterson left the game at halftime with
flu-like symptoms while James Johnson was a late scratch for Toronto
because of a sprained left ankle. Those absences left Toronto with
nine healthy players.
"It was super strange but we have a resilient team," Lowry said.
Tonight everybody stepped up."
The Raptors led by 32-16 after the first quarter, their biggest lead
of the season after an opening quarter. They also allowed the fewest
points in a first quarter this season.
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The Mavericks pulled back to within five points early in the second
quarter but the Raptors took a 49-36 lead into the intermission.
Matthews hit a 3-pointer with 1:15 left in the third quarter to
reduce the Raptors' lead to three points. The Raptors led 72-67
after three quarters when Joseph made a driving layup in the final
second.
Nowitzki's 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter again cut Toronto's
lead to three points. Lowry and Joseph then hit consecutive
3-pointers, extending the lead to 86-74 with 7:19 remaining.
After a Mavericks' miss, Ross came back to make a 3-pointer and
Toronto lead by 15 with 6:46 left.
A dunk by guard Justin Anderson reduced the lead to nine and a
jumper by Evans had the lead down to seven.
Villanueva made a short jumper and a layup to cut the lead to four
points approaching the final minute.
Lowry made one free throw with 45.1 seconds left to put the Raptors
up by six. Villanueva hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to three
points. After Lowry hit two free throws, Barea hit a 3-pointer to
trim them the lead to two. DeRozan's layup put Toronto up by four
with 15.5 seconds left.
"They came out really strong," Nowitzki said. "They were into us
defensively and we couldn't get anything going there. We kind of
weathered the storm in the second quarter and stayed within striking
distance. The third quarter was good for us, kind of got us back
into the game and then the first six minutes of the fourth quarter
were tough."
NOTES: Raptors C Jonas Valanciunas (fractured left hand) received
clearance Monday to return to practice with no date set for a return
to game competition. He was injured in the second quarter of the
game against the Los Angeles Lakers on Nov. 20. ... Toronto F
DeMarre Carroll (right knee contusion) remained out of the lineup
but is near a return to practice. ... The Raptors assigned F Bruno
Caboclo and G Norman Powell to Raptors 905 of the NBA D-League. ...
Mavericks G Devin Harris (right hamstring) made the trip to Toronto
but did not play against the Raptors. ... The Raptors defeated the
Mavericks 102-91 on Nov. 3 in Dallas in the first meeting between
the teams this season.
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