Raptors-Hornets Preview

By MATT BEARDMORE
Posted Dec 27 2012 3:29PM

The Toronto Raptors' longest winning streak in nearly three years is over.

The New Orleans Hornets are hoping they've started a run of their own.

Toronto will try to rebound from its first loss in six games Friday night in New Orleans, where the Western Conference-worst Hornets look to build off their first victory in three-plus weeks.

The Raptors (9-20) were hoping to arrive in New Orleans on a run of six straight wins, but instead, they're in bounce-back mode after getting routed 100-80 at San Antonio on Wednesday.

No starter scored in double figures for Toronto, which surrendered its highest point total in eight games and had its longest win streak since January 2010 come to an end.

"It's one game against a really good team," said point guard Jose Calderon, who has started the last seven games in place of Kyle Lowry (triceps). "We lost, so now we've got two big (road games) coming up and that's what we've got to be thinking right now."

The Raptors end this trip in Orlando on Saturday and are 2-15 in road games, including losses in all 10 against West opponents by an average of 16.1 points. However, they've won seven of 10 in New Orleans, including a 95-84 victory Feb. 29, and the Hornets (6-22) have lost five in a row at home.

New Orleans has averaged 84.3 points during that skid dating to a 102-81 win over Milwaukee on Dec. 3.

That game marked the Hornets' only victory this month until Wednesday, when they avoided a franchise record-tying 12th consecutive defeat overall with a 97-94 win in Orlando. They had lost their previous two games by a total of 11 points.

"We've been scrapping, but it's just one game," said center Robin Lopez, who has back-to-back 20-point games for the first time in his career after finishing with a season-best 29 versus the Magic. "We want to string together a few."

The Hornets, though, haven't won two straight since Nov. 2-3, and they have one victory in their last 10 at home.

"My goal is not to win one game and then let up," coach Monty Williams said. "My mindset is always to win every game we play. I don't care who it is in our lineup, young or whoever the guy is, we're going to try to win games."

Hornets rookie guard Austin Rivers should make a 10th consecutive start Friday alongside Greivis Vasquez, who had a career-high 27 points Wednesday, but Eric Gordon could make his season debut Saturday at Charlotte following knee surgery. Rivers has averaged 5.3 points on 8-of-31 shooting over the past four games.

Top overall pick Anthony Davis, who returned nine games ago after missing 11 with an ankle injury, is averaging 14.2 points and 10.4 rebounds while starting each of the last five contests.

Ed Davis and Amir Johnson will have to contend with Davis and Lopez as Raptors rookie center Jonas Valanciunas is expected to be out four to six weeks with a broken ring finger suffered last Friday. Toronto was outrebounded by nine Wednesday without the 20-year-old Lithuanian.

Raptors forward Andrea Bargnani will likely miss an eighth consecutive game with a ligament tear in his right elbow, but there's a chance Lowry will return.

DeRozan leads Raptors past Hornets 104-97 in OT

Posted Dec 29 2012 12:40AM

NEW ORLEANS (AP) Kyle Lowry didn't start against the Hornets. He certainly finished them off, though.

DeMar DeRozan scored 30 points and Lowry, back from a partial triceps tear that kept him out of seven straight games, had two huge baskets in overtime as the Toronto Raptors held off New Orleans 104-97 on Friday night.

The Raptors, who never trailed in the second half, scored nine of the first 11 points in overtime after blowing a seven-point lead in the last 1:30 of regulation. Amir Johnson scored under the basket to give Toronto a 93-91 lead. Lowry then drove the baseline for a reverse layup and hit a 3-pointer to make it 98-93.

New Orleans never got closer than five the rest of the way.

"We came out with a fury (in overtime)," Lowry said. "We came out shooting to win the game."

Toronto coach Dwane Casey kept Lowry's replacement, Jose Calderon, in the starting lineup at point guard, saying before the game that Calderon had "earned it" when the Raptors recently won five in a row. Both players were on the floor at the start of overtime, when Lowry hit his two biggest shots.

He finished with 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting, with a team-high eight assists and zero turnovers in 27:31.

"He was a little rusty and got a little winded," Casey said. "That's why I had to get him out a little bit. But his aggression helped us, his toughness helped us."

Lowry was conscious of not trying to force too much, an issue before he got hurt. Toronto had been 2-14 in the 16 games he played and 7-6 in games he missed.

This time, he helped the Raptors overcome a tough shooting night from Calderon, who went 1 of 6 but had six assists.

"The last couple of weeks, the team has been moving the ball really well," Lowry said. "I just wanted to keep that going and not try to do too much. Jose is a great player and he made great decisions. He spaces us very well and makes our job a lot easier."

DeRozan hit two free throws and an outside shot that made the score 102-95 with 31.7 seconds left. Alan Anderson added 14 points for the Raptors.

Rookie big man Anthony Davis led New Orleans with 25 points and nine rebounds. Greivis Vaszquez added 20 points, 14 assists and nine rebounds, falling just shy of his first career triple-double.

The Raptors won for just the third time in 18 road games. The Hornets fell to 3-12 at home and 0-3 in overtime.

With Toronto leading 85-83, DeRozan scored on a driving layup, then stole Austin Rivers' pass and converted a three-point play to make the score 90-83 with 1:38 left.

The Hornets responded with a 3-pointer from Brian Roberts and a driving layup by Vasquez to cut the margin to 90-88. After DeRozan sank one of two free throws, the Hornets' Ryan Anderson drained a tying 3-pointer that hit the rim twice before falling in with 8.1 seconds left.

DeRozan had a chance to win it at the buzzer, but his fallaway from the baseline clanged off the rim.

The Hornets hardly hit anything in overtime, going 2 of 11 from the field.

"That was huge, no question," Casey said. "Those are the kind of big-time plays we've struggled with sometimes, but tonight we got it."

The Hornets tied the score three times in the third quarter and again on Ryan Anderson's clutch 3-pointer near the end of regulation but could not pull ahead. Vasquez missed an open 3 in overtime that would have given them a 96-95 lead.

"The energy we expended to come back in the fourth may have hurt us in overtime," Hornets coach Monty Williams said. "You have to tip our hat to (the Raptors). They did what they needed to do in overtime."

Lowry scored a fast-break layup off Ryan Anderson's turnover to spark a run that put the Raptors up 81-68 midway through the fourth quarter.

The Hornets responded with a quick 8-0 spurt on a three-point play by Davis, two free throws from Vasquez and a 3-pointer by Ryan Anderson that cut the deficit to 83-78 with 4:04 left.

"We had that momentum to force overtime," Davis said. "We tried to use all of our energy and momentum from the crowd to stay in the game, but we were not making shots. We were missing layups. It's tough because we had a second chance to get back in the game."

Toronto scored 23 points off 16 New Orleans turnovers. The Hornets forced only seven miscues, getting five points off them.

The Raptors also took advantage of several Hornets droughts. New Orleans missed 11 of its last 14 shots in the first half and went cold in the second half, making only three field goals from the 3:30 mark of the third quarter to the 6:15 mark of the fourth.

The Raptors led 48-42 at halftime despite shooting 16 of 41 from the floor (39 percent) and 1 of 12 from 3-point range.

NOTES: Hornets reserve forward Jason Smith returned from a seven-game absence due to a torn labrum, scoring two points in 12:10. ... Toronto outscored New Orleans 49-31 off the bench. ... Hornets center Robin Lopez, who has 85 points in his last four games, finished with nine on 3-of-8 shooting. ... Ryan Anderson had a game-high 12 rebounds.

Notebook: Raptors 104, Hornets 97 (OT)

Bradley Handwerger, for NBA.com
Posted Fri Dec 28, 2012 11:53 PM - Updated Fri Dec 28, 2012 11:53 PM

THE FACTS: DeMar DeRozan scored 30 points and Kyle Lowry put up 17 and had eight assists off the bench as the Toronto Raptors outlasted the New Orleans Hornets 104-97 in overtime Friday night. The Hornets (6-23) did their best to build on their win over Orlando two nights earlier. Down for most of the final three quarters, New Orleans slowly climbed back into the game behind the play of guard Greivis Vasquez, who had six points and four assists in the fourth quarter.

New Orleans used an 8-1 run over the final 1:38 to push the game into overtime, but ran out of energy once the extra five minutes began.

DeRozan and Lowry were a big part of that, combining for nine points in overtime. Toronto's defense picked up their energy in the extra time, not allowing New Orleans any easy shots to stay in the game.

For Toronto (10-20), Alan Anderson added 16 points, Ed Davis had 13 and Amir Johnson had 12 points and eight rebounds.

Vasquez paced New Orleans with 20 points, 14 assists and nine rebounds while rookie Anthony Davis put up 25 points and nine rebounds to go with three blocked shots.

QUOTABLE: "We came out with a fury. We came out saying we were going to win this game and coach and every other player gave us confidence. We started the overtime with a great pass to Amir and we just built off of that."
-- Kyle Lowry

THE STAT: 17 -- the amount of turnovers the Hornets had Friday night. Those turnovers turned into 23 Toronto points. Equally as important was that the Raptors turned the ball over only seven times for five Hornets points.

TURNING POINT: After the Hornets closed a seven-point deficit in the final 1:38 to push the game to overtime, the Raptors didn't let the momentum swing last. Johnson's layup in the first 30 seconds of extra time set the tone and the Raptors, just 2-15 on the road coming into the game, controlled overtime. Lowry hit a jumper, followed by a 24-foot 3-pointer and then DeRozan sank two free throws and, with just a minute to play, Toronto owned what turned out to be an insurmountable 100-93 lead.

QUOTABLE II: "I think we're fighting. We're resilient. We fought back from what, eight points that last stretch. We could have given up and it shows a lot for this team. We're going to work through it and we'll learn."
-- Hornets forward Ryan Anderson

NOT: Toronto's Terrence Ross played starters minutes, getting in for more than 23 minutes of Friday night's game off the bench. But he didn't make the most of his time, going just 1-for-8 for four points

NOTABLE: Vasquez's 14 assists and nine rebounds marks the 11th time in Hornets history that a player has recorded those numbers in a game. Former Hornet Chris Paul has nine of the previous 10 instances. ... DeRozan's 30-point performance was the second time this at least 30 points. ... The Raptors' seven turnovers were a season low for a New Orleans opponent and the Hornets are now 0-3 when forcing fewer than 10 turnovers.

UP NEXT: For the Hornets, Saturday @ Charlotte, Tuesday vs. Atlanta, Wednesday @ Houston. For the Raptors, Saturday @ Orlando, Wednesday vs. Portland, Friday vs. Sacramento.

• Raptors: Bargnani, Valanciunas
• Hornets: Gordon

• Raptors: Anderson
• Hornets: Anderson

• Lead Changes: 3
• Times Tied: 8

• Arena: New Orleans Arena, New Orleans, LA
• Officials: #25 Tony Brothers, #33 Sean Corbin, #46 Ben Taylor
• Attendance: 13968
• Duration: 2:39