Toronto: Terrence Ross scored 20 points, Jonas Valanciunas had 18 and the Toronto Raptors snapped the Cleveland Cavaliers’ six-game winning streak with a 98-91 victory on Friday night.
Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan each had 14 points as the Atlantic Division-leading Raptors won for the fourth time in five games.
Toronto reached the 30-win plateau in its 55th game, a feat that took 78 games to achieve last season. The Raptors also improved to 10-4 at home since January 1.
Luol Deng had 21 points and 11 rebounds and Kyrie Irving scored 17 as the Cavaliers lost for the first time since Feb. 5 against the Los Angeles Lakers. Cleveland failed to record its first seven-game winning streak since LeBron James led the team to eight straight in 2010.
Tristan Thompson scored 13 points for Cleveland, whose three-game road winning streak also came to an end. The Cavaliers had not lost away from home since a Feb. 3 defeat at Dallas.
Ish Smith scored a career-high 15 points, matched his career best of seven rebounds and triggered a 17-point second-quarter run that propelled Phoenix past road weary San Antonio. Markieff Morris scored 21 points and Channing Frye 17 for Phoenix. Gerald Green and Marcus Morris added 13 apiece.
Danny Green had 15 and Tim Duncan 13 for the Spurs, who finished a nine-game road trip, the team’s annual sojourn while a rodeo is held back home. The Spurs went 7-2 on the swing.
Elsewhere, D.J. Augustin had 22 points and eight assists, and Chicago won their fifth consecutive game. Rookie Tony Snell added a career-high 20 points as the Bulls put seven players in double figures. Taj Gibson had 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Joakim Noah finished with 14 points, 11 boards and five assists.
Randy Foye scored 23 points for Denver, which has lost six of seven. Aaron Brooks had 17 on 7-for-11 shooting in 28 minutes in his Nuggets debut, which also included a technical foul when he was involved in a tussle with Noah in the third.
Denver acquired Brooks and forward Jan Vesely in a pair of trades on Thursday. The 7-foot Vesely had five points and five rebounds in 16 minutes.
