Clippers at Raptors
The Toronto Raptors will put their season-high seven-game winning streak on the line when they host the surging Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday. The Clippers will provide the toughest test of the winning streak so far, which has included a pair of victories over sub-.500 Brooklyn and another over the woeful Philadelphia 76ers.
Toronto took advantage of a banged-up Miami Heat squad on Friday and cruised to a 101-81 victory behind 15 points and six assists from newly-minted All-Star Kyle Lowry. The backcourt combination of Lowry and DeMar DeRozan fuels the Raptors offense, and the pair combined for 48 points on Friday as DeRozan topped 30 for the third straight game. Los Angeles boasts some prolific scorers as well and is averaging 110.2 points while winning 12 of the last 14 games. The Clippers dropped the opener of the road trip 115-102 at Cleveland on Thursday but bounced back by trouncing the New York Knicks 116-88 the following night.
TV: 6 p.m. ET, Prime Ticket (Los Angeles), TSN (Toronto)
ABOUT THE CLIPPERS (28-15): Los Angeles brought in a pair of veterans over the summer in an effort to bolster the bench, but Josh Smith and Lance Stephenson did not last long in Doc Rivers’ rotation and have been fixtures on the end of the bench. The Clippers decided to make a move with one of them on Friday and sent Smith to Houston in exchange for cash and the draft rights to Sergei Lishouk. “He was very good, a good teammate and all that, but it just didn’t work,” Rivers told reporters of Smith. “So we wanted to go in another direction.”
ABOUT THE RAPTORS (28-15): The seven-game winning streak is the longest for the franchise since the 2002 squad set a record with nine in a row, and the team has pushed its way into second place in the Eastern Conference. Toronto limited the Heat to 40.7 percent shooting, including 4-of-17 from 3-point range in improving to 18-0 in its last 18 games when holding opponents under 100 points. That defense is anchored in the middle by centers Jonas Valanciunas and Bismack Biyombo, and the two combined for five blocks on Friday.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Stephenson has logged a total of 20 minutes in the last eight games.
2. Toronto F Terrence Ross is 8-of-12 from 3-point range in the last three games.
3. DeRozan scored 21 points and Lowry handed out 10 assists in a 91-80 victory at Los Angeles on Nov. 22.