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Lowry, DeRozan lead Raptors to 40th win of season

Xinhua, March 3, 2016 Adjust font size:

All-Stars DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry scored 31 and 32 points respectively to give Toronto Raptors a 104-94 victory over Utah Jazz in Wednesday evening NBA action.

With the win, Toronto improves to 40-19 on the season and becomes the fifth team in the NBA to reach the 40-win echelon. Golden State, San Antonio, Oklahoma City and Cleveland are the other teams with more wins than Toronto this season.

Reaching 40 wins in 59 games is also the quickest a Raptors team has reached 40 wins. The previous record is from last season when the team achieved the feat in 67 games.

"It's very comforting to have the two All-Stars to get what you need offensively," said Raptors head coach Dwane Casey following the win in Toronto.

Coming off a career-high 43-point performance against Cleveland that earned him the Eastern Conference Player of the week honors, Lowry continued where he left off by shooting 13-for-20 from the field, including 16 points in the second half.

DeRozan had 18 of his 31 points in the second half in a game that saw him reach at least 30 points for the 11th time this season.

Despite the offensive performances, Casey was most impressed with the team's defence.

"First half, they dictated what they wanted to do. I thought our level of intensity picked up defensively in the second half," said Casey.

After allowing Utah to shoot 50.0 percent from the field in the first half, Raptors held Jazz to 39.5 percent in the second half for a total of 94 points.

Toronto has now won 27 consecutive games when holding opponents under 100 points and 32-3 overall this season.

Having reached 40 wins in record time, Casey and his team will look to do what no Raptors team has accomplished: win 50 games.

The franchise-record for wins in a season is 49 set by last year's squad. The team has 22 games remaining this season to set a new record. Endit