DeRozan powers Raptors over Celtics

TORONTO (AP) – DeMar DeRozan scored 34 points and Jonas Valanciunas had his eighth double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds as the Toronto Raptors won their season-high sixth straight game, 115-109 over the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night.

DeRozan, who has 64 combined points over Toronto’s last two games, also had six assists and was 8 for 9 from the free-throw line on Wednesday.

In epic come-from-behind fashion, Toronto Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry will be starting the NBA All-Star Game for the second year in a row after a last-minute surge of fan voting.

Toronto Raptors forward Luis Scola (4) tries to drive past Boston Celtics forward Amir Johnson during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Toronto on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016. Friday’s game was 10 years to the day that Lakers star Kobe Bryant scored 81 points in a 122-104 victory over the Raptors at the Staples Center.

Isaiah Thomas led the Celtics (22-21) with 21 points and 10 assists, Avery Bradley had 19 points and Canadian Kelly Olynyk contributed 18.

Both teams shot well from the floor: 55.4 percent for Toronto and 50.6 percent for Boston.

Scola hit a 3-point shot beat the buzzer with a 3-pointer from the corner for a 60-44 Toronto lead at halftime.

The Rockets closed the third quarter with a 14-2 run to turn a one-point game into a double-digit lead entering the fourth.

However, the report suggested that a possible team for Lee to land if he gets dealt is the Toronto Raptors, although the report mentioned, “However, making the cap math work would be complicated unless a third team that’s willing to take on one of Toronto’s longer deals gets involved”.

DeRozan scored 15 points in the first quarter to pace the Raptors to a 31-20 lead.

Trailing by just two points, the Celtics were trying to pull out a win they probably didn’t deserve. The basket triggered a 6-0 run with another Thomas fast break drive and a Bradley 20-footer, which tied the score at 105 with 3:20 left.

Boston scored 18 points on 13 Raptors turnovers and hit 12-of-26 three-pointers.

DeMar DeRozan hasn’t officially been minted as an All-Star, but at this point it’s just a matter of time – six days to be precise – that he’ll be join Kyle Lowry, named an All-Star starter for the second straight season, on the Eastern Conference squad.

After running into the lady, Lowry realized the best way to say that he was sorry for running into her was to give her a big kiss on the side of the head. “It may not be pretty but we will find it. We have to maintain our defensive focus”.

“We’re not feeling sorry for ourselves”, he added.

“It should give us some confidence to know that those other guys helped them get that”, Casey said after the Raptors’ shootaround ahead of Friday night’s game with the injury-riddled Miami Heat.

Curry finished with 12 assists and 10 rebounds to go with his 39 points, giving the Warriors 10 triple-doubles this season, which equals their franchise record. Helping matters, the Raptors missed their first eight 3-pointers of the fourth quarter. Marvin Williams had 11 points and 14 rebounds for the Hornets.

Ariza finished with 19 points and matched his season high with five 3-pointers. They split the first two, with the Heat winning, 96-76 on November 8th, and losing 108-94 on December 18th.