DeRozan leads as Raptors bury Nets
TORONTO -- DeMar DeRozan scored a game-high 28 points as the Toronto Raptors defeated the Brooklyn Nets 132-113 on Friday night at Air Canada Centre.
DeRozan added four rebounds and two assists for Toronto, which shot 53.6 percent from the floor. Kyle Lowry chipped in 20 points, six assists and six rebounds while DeMarre Carroll added 18 points and 11 boards.
Raptors guard Cory Joseph went a perfect 7 for 7 from the field while adding 16 points and seven assists off the bench.
Toronto (26-13) has now won back-to-back games while the Nets (8-31) dropped nine straight.
Bojan Bogdanovic led the Brooklyn with 23 points and four rebounds while Brook Lopez had 20 points and five assists. Center Justin Hamilton added 11 points off the bench in the loss.
Toronto opened the fourth quarter on an 11-0 surge to push their lead to 12 and never looked back.
DeRozan had 19 of his 28 points in the third quarter and helped lead a 10-0 run as the Raptors led 90-89 after three quarters.
DeRozan managed nine points before the break as Toronto held off the Nets 54-53 at halftime.
Brooklyn kept pace with the Raptors in the first half by shooting 47 percent from beyond the arc led by Bogdanovic, who was 3 for 4 from 3-point range.
Toronto center Jonas Valanciunas picked up where he left off Tuesday's game picking up eight points and five boards through the first six minutes as the Raptors led 30-27 after one period.
Carroll and DeRozan each had seven points for Toronto while Hamilton paced the Nets with seven points and two rebounds off the bench. Nets guard Randy Foye, who missed three of the last four games, had three assists in three minutes as Brooklyn's bench out-scored Toronto's 11-0 early.
NOTES: Raptors F Patrick Patterson missed Friday's game as he continues to recover from a left knee injury, which previously sidelined him for four games. Coach Dwane Casey called Patterson's absence precautionary. ... Toronto C Lucas Nogueira replaced Patterson in the Raptors' starting lineup. ... Nets G Isaiah Whitehead was inactive because of a sprained left knee. ... Brooklyn G Jeremy Lin missed his eighth game because of a strained left hamstring. ... Toronto won the first of four meetings between the clubs 116-104 on Dec. 20. Toronto visits Brooklyn on Tuesday before concluding the season series on Feb. 5.