Celtics can’t catch Raptors

DeMar DeRozan poured in 33 points Friday night as the Toronto Raptors extended their winning streak to seven games with a 101-81 victory over the injury-riddled Miami Heat.

The Toronto Raptors look to build on their six-game winning streak.

DeRozan is clearly an All-Star this season, as he’s led the Raptors to the second-best record in the East along with Kyle Lowry. Kyle Lowry added 15 points, Terrence Ross 13 and Luis Scola 12 for Toronto.

“I think the story of tonight is the first and third quarters, 75 points, you can’t win that way against a good team”, he said.

The score and Toronto’s 55.4 percent shooting performance aside, the Celts had their moments defensively, just not enough.

Everything seemed to be “feeling good” for DeRozan in the third quarter, when he had 18 points to regain the lead for the Raptors.

He scored on a cutting layup to increase the lead to 15 with 56.6 seconds left in the half and then beat the buzzer with a 3-pointer from the corner for a 60-44 Toronto lead at halftime.

The Celtics were up by 15 points at the half before seeing their lead drop all the way to a point in the fourth quarter.

Before the game against Toronto, Heat guard Dwyane Wade told reporters that he sees some of his game in Derozan’s game.

Toronto led 60-44 at the break.

Thomas cut the lead to two points on a jumper with 6:39 left, but DeRozan and forward Patrick Patterson scored to boost the Raptors’ lead to six points.

The Raptors defense has been loose for the past two or three games. DeRozan is tied for 10th in the league in scoring, pouring in 23.1 points a night, while also ranking in the top-3 in free throw attempts at 8.3 a game.

A late surge from fans in the voting helped pushed Lowry into a starting spot ahead of Cavs point guard Kyrie Irving. But Lowry and Ross hit threes on consecutive possessions moments later to restore Toronto’s lead.

NOTES: Former Raptors F Amir Johnson returned to Air Canada Center for the first time since signing with the Celtics as a free agent in July. Just give him the ball and get out of the way.

“He’s so talented”, Lowry said of Thomas.

Of course, this is nit picking at what was, in the end, a 20-point blowout for the Raptors, a truly positive result to cap a truly positive week for the franchise.

Now, because of the coaching change in Cleveland on Friday, some are also wondering if Casey could be called upon to coach the Eastern Conference team.

Forward LeBron James did not reach 20 points for the third straight game but didn’t need to.

NEW YORK DeAndre Jordan scored 20 points on 7-for-7 shooting, Chris Paul had 16 points, 13 assists and six rebounds, and the Los Angeles Clippers routed the New York Knicks. The last two loses are the most recent examples but struggling down the stretch in close games is a theme that has followed the Celtics all season long. The setback marked the third in a row and the sixth in seven games for the Heat, who are averaging 80 points in the last three contests.

Their hard working attitude was contagious, and Avery Bradley caught on quickly.