The Canadian Press
Melissa Couto
TORONTO—DeMar DeRozan’s teammates know exactly what to do whenever the Raptors’ guard gets into a groove.
Just let him go.
DeRozan netted 34 points, including 18 in the third quarter alone, to lead Toronto to a 115-109 victory over the Boston Celtics last night for their season-high sixth-straight win.
Toronto was 16-for-22 from the floor in the third, outscoring the Celtics 40-26 for a season-high in a single quarter.
DeRozan’s solid play had a lot to do with that.
“Give him the ball and get out of the way, give him the ball and get out of the way,” Kyle Lowry said of his game plan whenever DeRozan gets hot.
“He’s going to shoot his little Kobe Bryant fadeaways and he’s going to make them.
“Just give him the ball and get out of the way,” Lowry reiterated.
“When he’s on those little rolls right there, you just sit back and watch a little bit.”
DeRozan, who has 64 combined points over Toronto’s last two games, also had six assists and was 8-for-9 from the free-throw line last night.
“When it’s going, you really don’t pay attention to it until after the fact and realize everything was feeling good,” DeRozan said of his performance.
Jonas Valanciunas had his eighth double-double of the season with 19 points and 12 rebounds while Luis Scola added 18 points for the Raptors (27-15).
Terrence Ross chipped in with 14, including four three-pointers.
Lowry also had 14 points to help Toronto improve to 19-8 against Eastern Conference opponents this season.
Isaiah Thomas led the Celtics (22-21) with 21 points and 10 assists.
Avery Bradley had 19 points while Canadian Kelly Olynyk added 18.
Former Raptor Amir Johnson, in his first game back in Toronto since signing a free-agent deal with the Celtics this off-season, had two points as Boston lost for the fifth time in six road games.
The Raptors played a video tribute early in the game for Johnson, who spent six seasons with the team, and it was met with a standing ovation from the sell-out crowd of 19,800.
“It was amazing,” Lowry said of the fan reaction. “I knew it would be an ovation like that and it was well-deserved.
“He [Johnson] put his blood, sweat, and tears into this organization and into this franchise, and I think the fans, the organization, everyone appreciated what that meant.”
Johnson called the video tribute “pretty unique.”
“I thought it was pretty awesome,” he said. “I was teary-eyed a little bit.
“That was cool.”
The Celtics tied the game 105-105 on a Bradley jump shot with 3:20 left. But Lowry and Ross hit “threes” on consecutive possessions moments later to restore Toronto’s lead.
Boston scored 18 points on 13 Raptors’ turnovers and hit 12-of-26 three-pointers.
“It doesn’t matter, we got a win,” Lowry said of his team’s defensive lapse.
“At the end of the day, we got a win and we’re happy with that.
“It just shows the different type of ways we can win games,” Lowry noted.
“We can win defensively, and tonight was an offensive game.”
“It’s important that you win ugly,” said Raptors’ coach Dwane Casey.
“We could easily have been on the other side of that.
“We know we’re not doing some things well, turning some balls over,” he noted. “They were making their ‘threes,’ we were missing our wide-open ‘threes.’
“We have to find other ways to win.”
The Raptors continue their seven-game homestand tomorrow night against the Miami Heat.
Elsewhere in the NBA, Dallas beat Minnesota 106-94 (OT), Philadelphia downed Orlando 96-87, Washington bounced Miami 106-87, Cleveland upended Brooklyn 91-78, New York topped Utah 118-111 (OT), and Golden State bombed Chicago 125-94.
Detroit beat Houston 123-114, Oklahoma City downed Charlotte 109-95, Sacramento dumped the L.A. Lakers 112-93, and Atlanta shaded Portland 104-98.
