Toronto: Nick Young scored 15 of his game-high 29 points in the fourth quarter and the Los Angeles Lakers rallied from a 19-point deficit on Sunday to defeat Toronto 112-106.
Spanish big man Pau Gasol added 22 points and nine rebounds while Ryan Kelly scored 17 points and Kendall Marshall contributed 10 points and 11 assists for the Lakers, who improved to 16-25 with their first back-to-back NBA triumphs in a month.
DeMar DeRozan scored 23 points and Kyle Lowry added 21 to lead the Raptors, who had won six in a row at home. They fell to 20-19 but still lead the Atlantic division.
A 24-5 Toronto run capped by three DeRozan baskets put the Raptors ahead 50-31 with 7:34 remaining in the second quarter but the Lakers scored the next nine points and pulled within 58-54 at half-time.
Toronto opened the third period with a 12-0 run but the Lakers went on a 12-2 run late in the quarter to seize an 82-81 edge entering the fourth.
“We didn’t give up,” Gasol said. “We started playing aggressive.”
Young sank a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give the Lakers a 108-103 lead and played tough defence to force a miss from DeRozen. Young added two free throws for a 110-104 Laker lead with 20 seconds to play and Toronto’s fate was sealed.
The Lakers outscored the Raptors 26-9 from the free throw line. “We didn’t play our defensive game. We played their game,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. “We didn’t get our defence to focus the whole game.”
