TORONTO – DeMar DeRozan poured in 30 points to lift Toronto 104-96 over the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday, victory No. 14 for the Raptors in their last 15 games.
Kyle Lowry added 19 points as six Raptors scored in double figures. Terrence Ross and Patrick Patterson had 12 points apiece, Luis Scola had 10 points and 12 rebounds, while Jonas Valanciunas had 10 points and 10 boards.
Al Horford scored 20 points to top the Hawks (36-29), who were wrapping up a five-game road trip.
The game was a tightly-fought Eastern Conference battle, with neither team leading by double digits until the Raptors (43-20) finally pulled away over the last four minutes.
The Raptors, who began the night two-and-a-half games behind Cleveland for first in the East, led 82-75 to start in the fourth quarter, then opened with three straight three-pointers to put nine points on the Hawks.
Fifth-place Atlanta pulled within six points a few times, but when Lowry stole the ball off Jeff Teague and finished with a finger roll, it gave the Raptors a 12-point lead with 3:33 to play.
Bismack Biyombo swatted away a shot attempt by Paul Millsap with 1:10 to play, and had the Air Canada Centre crowd roaring when he did a Dikembe Mutombo finger wag in the direction the Hawks bench. DeRozan iced the Raptors’ victory with a pair of free throws.
The Raptors outscored the Hawks 50-34 in the paint, and outrebounded the visitors 48-33.
Both the Raptors and Hawks were coming off comeback wins from two nights earlier, the Raptors rallying from a 16-point deficit _ and a stern halftime speech from coach Dwane Casey _ to beat the Brooklyn Nets. The Hawks came back to beat the Jazz in Utah.
The Raptors had beaten the Hawks 98-86 in Atlanta on Dec. 2.
DeRozan led the way with nine points in a first quarter that saw the Raptors shoot a solid 53 per cent, but trail the Hawks 21-20 going into the second.
DeRozan’s superb play continued into the second quarter, and with 33 seconds left before halftime he sprinted the length of the court, slicing through the Hawks to finish with a huge dunk that sent the Raptors into the break with a 52-48 lead.
The Raptors stretched their advantage to eight points midway through the third and led 82-75 with one quarter left to play.
The Raptors host Miami on Sunday, then wrap up their seven-game homestand on Monday against Chicago.
