DeMar DeRozan: DeMar DeRozan scores 33 points in win

As a team we’ve got to bring the energy and focus each night.

DeMar DeRozan scored a game-high 33 points to lead the Raptors in their 28th victory of the season.

Dallas trailed by as many as 17 points in the fourth quarter, but whittled it all the way down to 107-106 after third-string center Salah Mejri stuffed Thunder forward Kevin Durant at the rim and the Mavs guard Deron Williams followed with a 3-pointer that sent the sellout crowd into a tizzy.

Casey said he already has and will keep lobbying for DeRozan to make the all-star game. “He’s now shooting the 3-ball and the teams are going to run out to him now”. Both Lowry and DeRozan rank in the top 5 in total minutes played this season, and DeRozan ranks 4th in minutes played per game, while Lowry ranks 7th.

“When it’s going you really don’t pay attention to it until after the fact and realize everything was feeling good”, DeRozan said of his performance. Back from the peck and roll, he finished with 15 points and six assists as Toronto won its season-high seventh in a row.

Terrence Ross chipped in with 14, including four three-pointers, and Lowry had 14 to help Toronto improve to 19-8 against Eastern Conference opponents this season.

Chris Bosh led the Heat with 26 points and Wade added 22 but Miami simply didn’t have the manpower to stay with Toronto all night. These are the types of plays that should count for no other reason than how awesome they are.

“I think it just comes with experience”, DeRozan said.

It’s certainly not a recommended strategy for every time a player leaps into the stands, especially if it’s a big bald guy, but Lowry knew it was the right thing to do to make sure the lady was okay. Johnson was given a huge cheer during pre-game introductions and a standing ovation following a first-quarter video tribute….

“I thought it was pretty awesome”, he added.

But Lowry immediately answered with an open 3 from the left side, and after Olynyk drove, Ross lined up his own downtown bomb for a 111-107 Toronto lead with 2:15 left.

“We’re still trying to figure out how to win games without half our team, but the game goes on”.

“It just shows the different type of ways we can win games….” For us defensively and offensively we didn’t execute in anything.

It was the third straight game that DeRozan scored 30 or more points and the second time in a his career that he has accomplished that.

The Celtics rallied back after a poor first quarter to take a lead at halftime, but it was all for naught. “We could easily have been on the other side of that”. It’s really disappointing. Because we’ve got to the point where we should be able to execute simple things and we’re not doing that at all. They were making their threes, we were missing our wide-open threes. We scored 40 points in the third quarter, we are going to find our offense at some point.

The Miami Heat have lost four straight.

The Bulls, losers of six of their last eight, rode Jimmy Butler, Derrick Rose and Pau Gasol through a comeback that saw the the Celtics’ lead cut to one with 4:58 remaining after an 8-0 Chicago run.