The Sports Xchange
Dec 13, 2017
PHOENIX -- DeMar DeRozan scored 18 of his 37 points in the third quarter and the Toronto Raptors wrapped up a 3-1 Western Conference road trip with a 115-109 win over the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday.
DeRozan shot 7 of 11 in the third when Toronto built a 15-point lead before letting it slip away in the fourth.
Alex Len's basket capped a 12-0 Phoenix run to pull the Suns within 92-89 with 9:22 left. The Suns got as close as two at 111-109 in the final minute but the Raptors (18-8) made five of six free throws in the final 30 seconds to wrap up the win.
The Raptors, who got 21 points and 13 rebounds from Serge Ibaka and 20 points and 11 rebounds from Jonas Valanciunas, followed up wins over the Memphis Grizzlies and Sacramento Kings by sweeping the season series from the Suns for only the fourth time in team history.
DeRozan now has six 30-point games this year and 86 as a Raptor, second to Vince Carter (91) in Toronto history.
Troy Daniels had a career-high 32 points including seven 3-pointers for the Suns (9-22), who lost their fifth in a row and is 0-4 since losing star Devin Booker to an adductor injury. Greg Monroe added 17 points and 11 rebounds and TJ Warren had 17 points but needed 15 shots to get them.
The Raptors hit five of seven 3-pointers in the first quarter and DeRozen and Kyle Lowry combined for seven assists on Toronto's 11 baskets. Valanciunas had 10 early points and a 3-pointer by C.J. Miles with 31 seconds left gave his team a 37-31 lead.
Phoenix's bench outscored Toronto 29-13 in the first half and got a big lift from Daniels. He had nine of his 14 first-half points from three 3-pointers and the last one capped a 7-0 run to give Phoenix a 46-46 lead with 6:16 left in the half.
The Raptors came right back with an 11-2 run and Lowry's first two points on two free throws with 17.3 seconds left gave Toronto a 58-53 lead at the half.
DeRozen owned the third quarter and pushed the Toronto lead to 92-77 on a pull-up jumper, but Daniels kept shooting the Suns back into contention.
NOTES: With four injured players the Suns received an injury exemption and signed G Isaiah Canaan to a contract. Canaan has played with three other NBA teams, most recently the Houston Rockets. Canaan can play the point, where depth has been a problem since Phoenix traded Eric Bledsoe to the Milwaukee Bucks on Nov. 7. ... Phoenix C Tyson Chandler missed the game due to personal reasons. ... Toronto has played the fewest home games in the NBA (10) and won't have a road trip longer than three games or a road game west of the Central time zone for the rest of the year. ... Suns interim coach Jay Triano was 87-142 in three seasons as head coach of the Raptors (2008-11).