Raptors 96 Celtics 78
TORONTO — DeMar DeRozan led with 16 points as the Toronto Raptors cruised to a crucial 96-78 win over the Boston Celtics on Wednesday.
The Raptors have a three-game lead over Boston for first place in the Atlantic Division and the NBA’s Eastern Conference. Both teams have four regular-season games remaining.
All-star guard Kyle Lowry finished with 13 points, five rebounds and five assists as the Raptors (56-22) snapped a two-game losing skid. It was his highest scoring outing in the past four games.
Fred VanVleet came off the bench for 15 points while Delon Wright had eight points, nine rebounds and eight assists.
Marcus Morris had 21 for the Celtics (53-25), who would have won the tiebreaker between the two teams and moved to just a game back of Toronto for first in the division and conference with a win.
Guard Terry Rozier had two points and nine rebounds in his return to the Celtics lineup after missing Tuesday’s 106-102 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. He had sat out with a left ankle sprain.
The Raptors had five losses in their past 10 heading into the game, including a 110-90 defeat in Boston on Sunday followed by a 112-106 loss in Cleveland on Tuesday.
“There’s three times a year guys go through a malaise, a mental malaise,” said Raptors head coach Dwane Casey before Wednesday’s game. “My many years in the NBA, I’ve seen it. Right before Christmas, right before all-star break and right before the playoffs.
“It’s kind of that way now mentally and it’s mental. All our guys, I believe in those guys and our team, we’ve done a lot of good things but one thing that cures that is playing hard.”
Lowry’s struggles were a big part of Toronto’s back-to-back losses. He was held to just five points and three assists by Cavaliers guard Jose Calderon on Tuesday. That was after he had three 11-point games in a row. In that four-game span, he shot .318 on field goals.
Lowry had gone to see Villanova — his alma mater — win the NCAA championship on Monday night but insisted that the extra travel had not affected his play in Cleveland.
He looked better in Wednesday’s first quarter, sinking a three-pointer and dishing out three assists, while DeRozan led Toronto with five points. Still, the Raptors trailed Boston 20-15 after 12 minutes of play.
DeRozan drained a three-pointer with 1:30 left in the second to give Toronto a 43-29 lead. The Raptors looked dominant in the quarter, using a 9-2 run on the work of Wright and the rest of their bench to take the lead and pull away from the Celtics.
Lowry surpassed his scoring from the loss in Cleveland by halftime, with seven points and three assists as Toronto led 43-33.
DeRozan had eight points and Lowry four in the third quarter as the Raptors all-star backcourt continued to find their rhythm, helping to build a 67-53 lead.
A one-handed slam dunk by Serge Ibaka with 5:14 left in the game brought the sell-out crowd of 19,963 at Air Canada Centre to its feet and made it 85-70. Ibaka and Lucas Noguiera dominated play in the final quarter, getting several dunks as Casey began to rest his starters.