TORONTO — Kyle Lowry poured in a game-high 32 points, helping the Toronto Raptors to a 105-91 win over the Boston Celtics at Air Canada Centre on Friday night.
The game marked Lowry’s 21st career regular season game with 30-plus points.
Toronto (46-21) has now won three straight and 12 of 15.
Luis Scola finished with 17 points and three rebounds. DeMar DeRozan added 15 points seven rebounds and six assists.
The loss was the fourth consecutive for Boston (39-30), matching a season-high.
The Celtics were led by a team-high 20 points from Isaiah Thomas. Evan Turner chipped in with 12.
Toronto used a 6-0 run to push their lead to 11 early in the fourth.
Then, with just over seven minutes remaining, Lowry’s hit back-to-back 3-pointers with to give Toronto a 17 point lead.
Raptors forward Patrick Patterson left the game with 7:07 remaining in the fourth quarter due to a left foot contusion and did not return.
R.J. Hunter hit a shot from beyond the arc with less than a minute remaining in the third to cut Toronto’s lead to five, 79-74, through three quarters.
The Celtics outscored the Raptors 17-5 on the break to cut the Raptors lead to six with two minutes remaining. Thomas led the way with 12 in the third.
Lowry had nine second quarter points on 2 of 3 shooting as the Raptors led 55-41 at recess.
The Celtics were led by eight points from Thomas while Jared Sullinger had six points.
Lowry drained one of his two three pointers of the half with three minutes remaining in the second period giving the Raptors their largest lead, 52-34.
Boston only trailed by 16-plus points four times in 51 games before Wednesday. Friday was the second time it happened in as many games.
Scola started hot leading the Raptors with 17 first quarter points as Toronto held a 30-14 lead after one period. His 17 points was a career-high for points in the first quarter of a game.
NOTES: C Jonas Valanciunas (left hand contusion) was active after missing two games. Bismack Biyombo started in Valanciunas’ place. … F James Johnson missed his second game due to plantar fasciitis in his left foot. G Norman Powell made his third consecutive start, as a result. … G Evan Turner started for the Celtics in place of G Marcus Smart. … F Jae Crowder missed his third game due to a right ankle sprain. … F Jonas Jerebko missed his second game due to a sore left ankle.
Pistons 115, Kings 108
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – Marcus Morris had 24 points and matched his career high with six 3-pointers as the Detroit Pistons defeated the Sacramento Kings 115-108 on Friday at The Palace.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope tossed in 23 points for Detroit (35-34) in its second game of a franchise-record nine-game homestand.
Reggie Jackson supplied 19 points, nine assists and seven rebounds as every Pistons starter reached double figures for the 24th time this season — an NBA high. Tobias Harris contributed 17 points and Andre Drummond added his league-high 57th double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
DeMarcus Cousins’ 31 points and 10 rebounds led the Kings (26-42), who have lost 11 of their last 13. Rudy Gay had 19 points and Rajon Rondo added 10 points, 13 assists and eight rebounds.
Morris also had six 3-pointers against the Kings on Dec. 26, 2014 when he played for Phoenix. He equaled that mark in the first half, drilling all six of his attempts as the Pistons built a 67-54 lead. He tied his record with a shot from the left corner in the final minute of the half.
Detroit led by as much as 18 in the opening half and scored 39 first-quarter points, their biggest opening-quarter output of the season.
The Kings gradually cut into the Pistons’ lead during the third quarter and got it to 86-81 on Kosta Koufos’ layup following a Jackson turnover. Quincy Acy’s free throws in the final seconds of the quarter brought Sacramento within four.
Acy’s jumper with 10:46 remaining tied it at 87. The Kings couldn’t take a lead and when Caldwell-Pope hit back-to-back 3-pointers, Detroit’s lead was up to 107-98 with 3:21 left.
Sacramento never got closer than five the rest of the way.