Lowry’s triple-double leads Raptors past Nets, 103-95
Toronto ends two-game skid — wins for just third time in 11 starts
NEW YORK — Kyle Lowry was already ill, then he was injured.
Neither was going to keep him off the floor with the Toronto Raptors badly needing a victory.
Lowry finished with 15 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists for his ninth career triple-double, and the Raptors beat the Brooklyn Nets, 103-95, Sunday.
Already feeling sick, Lowry needed four stitches after cutting his right forearm on a camera mounted to the basket stanchion. But he played more than 39 minutes and recorded his first triple-double of the season.
“It’s a part of the game. You’re going to get injured, you’re going to get hurt,” Lowry said. “It’s just how you find ways to get through it, and I’m always going to find a way to get through it.”
Playing again without leading scorer DeMar DeRozan, the slumping Raptors ended a two-game skid and won for just the third time in 11 games. Jonas Valanciunas led them with 22 points.
Terrence Ross had 17 points for the Raptors, who extended their longest winning streak ever against the Nets to eight.
Brook Lopez scored 20 for the Nets, who had 16 turnovers in the first half and finished with 22. They have lost nine in a row overall and 12 straight at home, where they haven’t won in 2017.
“I thought in the second half we improved,” coach Kenny Atkinson said. “That’s why we gave ourselves a chance, because our defence was not great, but decent enough to have a chance to win the game.”
Brooklyn cut a 17-point deficit to four midway through the fourth quarter, but Lowry soon took over, throwing a lob to Valanciunas for a basket, making a pair of free throws and then finding DeMarre Carroll for a basket that pushed the lead back into double digits at 92-82.
Tip-ins Raptors: Lowry finished 0 for 5 from three-point range and remained with 799 treys with the Raptors, two behind Morris Peterson’s franchise record . ... Patrick Patterson also sat out after leaving Toronto’s loss in Orlando on Friday with a bruised left knee. He has missed 11 of the last 20 games with knee injuries. Dwane’s disappointment The Raptors’ struggles cost coach Dwane Casey a chance to coach the Eastern Conference at the all-star game. The coach whose team had the secondhighest winning percentage through Sunday’s games — Cleveland’s Tyronn Lue is ineligible after coaching last year — earned the spot, and Boston’s Brad Stevens clinched it Friday. Casey said he was disappointed, but only because it meant the Raptors aren’t playing well.
“I’d much rather for us to be playing well right now more so than coaching in the all-star game,” Casey said. “If we were in third playing well I’d be happy, but I’m more upset about not playing well and everybody not being healthy than coaching in the all-star game.” O no Canada Raptors players and coaches looked around in confusion during the singing of Canada’s national anthem, as Broadway performer Amber Iman included some lyrics that aren’t in “O Canada.”
“I’m going to leave that alone, but yeah, that anthem was a lot different than I’ve heard over the last five years. A lot different,” Lowry said. “Her voice was beautiful but the anthem, the song, the words ... have her come to Toronto, we’ll come and get somebody to give her some lessons.”
Up next Raptors: Host the Clippers on Monday. Los Angeles won the first meeting this season after the Raptors won the previous four. Nets: Are on the road on Tuesday to Charlotte, where they have lost three in a row.