The Sports Xchange
Nov 29, 2017
TORONTO -- Kyle Lowry scored a season-best 36 points with six assists and five rebounds, DeMar DeRozan added 30 points with six assists and four rebounds and the Toronto Raptors defeated the Charlotte Hornets 126-113 on Wednesday night.
The Hornets were playing without All-Star point guard Kemba Walker, who has a shoulder injury.
Toronto entered the fourth quarter with an eight-point lead and increased it to 12 points when Norman Powell and Lowry hit consecutive 3-pointers.
Nicolas Batum made a 3-pointer with 4:42 to play to cut Toronto's lead to five points.
Toronto regained a 12-point lead on a 3-pointer by Lowry with 3:08 to play.
Jonas Valanciunas added 12 points and seven rebounds and Powell had 10 points for the Raptors (13-7), who won their second straight.
Dwight Howard had 22 points and 10 rebounds for Charlotte. Jeremy Lamb added 18 points, Frank Kaminsky had 18 points and seven rebounds while Michael Kidd-Gilchrist contributed 12 for the Hornets (8-12), who lost their third straight.
A 3-pointer by C.J. Miles gave Toronto a 13-point lead with 1:33 to play in the first quarter, which ended 32-25 in favor of the Raptors.
DeRozan led the first-quarter scoring with 10 points.
The Hornets crept to within four points early in the second quarter on a 3-point shot by Kaminsky, but the Raptors pulled away again and led 71-52 when Lowry hit a 3-pointer to end the scoring in the first half.
Lowry had 19 first-half points and DeRozan had 13. Kaminsky led the Hornets with 10 points.
The Hornets scored the first 10 points of the third quarter, six by Howard and four by Kidd-Gilchrist, to trim the lead to nine.
Howard made two free throws with 8:00 left in the third quarter to cut Toronto's lead to two.
The Raptors led 93-85 after three quarters.
NOTES: With Charlotte G Kemba Walker (left shoulder AC contusion) missing his first game of the season Wednesday, G Michael-Carter Williams made his first start of the season in his place and scored nine points with five assists and six rebounds. G Malik Monk was the backup point guard and had nine points. Walker was injured during the second half of the loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday. He returned to that game, but did not practice Monday and Tuesday. ... Toronto G DeMar DeRozan scored two points in the win over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday to end his streak of 113 straight games with 10 or more points. G Kyle Lowry holds the team record with 114. ... The Hornets will visit the Miami Heat on Friday. ... The Raptors will host the Indiana Pacers on Friday.