Raptors 87, Spurs 82
Raptors 87, Spurs 82: James Johnson scored a season-high 20 points as host Toronto denied San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich his 1,000th career victory.
DeMar DeRozan added 18 points on 4-for-14 shooting and Amir Johnson finished with 15 points and eight rebounds for the Raptors, who beat the Spurs for the first time in nearly five years. Kyle Lowry contributed 12 points and seven assists and Jonas Valanciunas posted eight points, a season-high 16 rebounds and four blocks for Toronto.
Tim Duncan had 12 points and 12 rebounds but committed a costly turnover with four seconds left and San Antonio trailing by three. Marco Belinelli scored 12 off the bench, Kawhi Leonard finished with 11 points and Tony Parker and Tiago Splitter finished with 10 points apiece.
Johnson’s 3-pointer from the corner gave the Raptors an 84-82 lead with 49 seconds left, and Johnson grabbed an offensive rebound on the next trip down the floor and made 1-of-2 free throws for a three-point lead with 4.4 seconds remaining. Duncan then inbounded the ball with four seconds left, but threw the ball out of bounds on the opposite end of the court for the sixth turnover of the fourth quarter for the Spurs and DeRozan followed with two free throws to seal the win.
Belinelli’s 3-pointer with 6:16 left pulled the Spurs within one after they trailed by eight earlier in the fourth quarter, and Parker’s triple tied the score at 75 with 5:01 on the clock. The Spurs moved ahead by two on a pair of free throws by Duncan and by three on Belinelli’s triple with 2:19 left, but San Antonio was unable to add to the lead.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The Spurs shot a season-low 33.3 percent from the field. … This was the first meeting between the teams since December 2013 …. San Antonio was playing the opener of a nine-game, three-week road trip.