Toronto Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan (10) tries to dribble around San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili (20) at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015. Toronto defeated San Antonio 97-94.John E. Sokolowski
The Toronto Raptors finally got the strong start they've been looking for – and it paid off in a victory over one of the NBA's top teams.
DeMar DeRozan poured in 28 points to lead the Toronto Raptors to a 97-94 victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday.
Kyle Lowry had 19 points and eight assists, Luis Scola had 16 points and eight rebounds, while Bismack Biyombo had 10 points and seven boards. Patrick Patterson also chipped in with 10 points for Toronto (14-9).
Manu Ginobili led the Spurs (18-5) with 17 points, while LaMarcus Aldridge had 13, and David West finished with 10.
The Raptors have been frustratingly slow and sloppy out of the gate. Coach Dwane Casey had even talked about switching up the starting lineup.
They finally showed what a decent first quarter can do, sprinting out to an 11-point lead, and continued to hold their own, taking a 73-62 lead into the fourth quarter in front of a capacity Air Canada Centre crowd of 19,800.
The Spurs, second in the NBA to only the undefeated Golden State Warriors, came to life in the fourth, and when Danny Green drained a three-pointer that circled the rim before dropping, it put San Antonio within three points with 2:47 to play.
A floating jumper by DeRozan – with two Spurs draped on him – had Toronto up by five with under a minute to play. A Green bucket made it a three-point game with 29 seconds left, then DeRozan grabbed a huge rebound with eight seconds left to secure the victory.
The night marked Cory Joseph's first meeting against his former team since he signed with the Raptors last summer. The Toronto native played four years with the Spurs, including their 2014 NBA championship campaign.
"No bad feelings at all, loved my time there but obviously on to the next stage of my career, I'm very happy right now and just looking forward to the game tonight," Joseph said after the morning shootaround.
Joseph is averaging career highs with his new team – 9.8 points, 2.9 assists and 2.6 rebounds in 26.3 minutes a game – and is solid on the defensive end every night. He said confidence is the biggest difference in his game.
"That's No. 1," Joseph said. "I think a lot of the NBA has to do with confidence. Obviously getting consistent minutes has something to do with that and obviously I've been working on my all-around game."
The Raptors raced out to their second highest first-quarter lead of the season, going up 27-21 on their visitors. It was only the second time in seven games they'd led after the first quarter.
A reverse layup from Joseph three minutes into the second gave the Raptors an 11-point lead and they went into the halftime break with a 53-46 advantage.
The Raptors kept their foot on the gas in the third, and a pull-up jumper by DeRozan with just over three minutes to go in the third put Toronto up by 13.
The Raptors host the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday, then wrap up this six-game homestand Sunday against the Philadelphia 76ers.