National Basketball Association
Toronto 92, Charlotte 87
When: 7:00 PM ET, Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Where: Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Ontario
Officials:
#18 Matt Boland, #33 Sean Corbin, #17 Joe Crawford
Attendance:
19800
By The Sports Xchange
TORONTO -- Guard Kyle Lowry scored 26 points and dished out seven assists as the Toronto Raptors defeated the Charlotte Hornets 92-87 on Wednesday to finish the regular season with a franchise-record 49 wins.
Center Jonas Valanciunas added 18 points for the Raptors, whose previous high victory total was 48, accomplished twice before, including last season.
The Raptors needed to win to have a chance to gain the third seed in the Eastern Division in the playoffs.
The Raptors entered the game occupying the fourth seed. To move up to the third spot, they needed to beat the Hornets while the Chicago Bulls lost to the Atlanta Hawks, a game that took place later Wednesday.
As the first-place finisher in the Atlantic Division, Toronto held the tiebreaker with Chicago.
Guard DeMar DeRozan added 16 points for Toronto (49-33) and forward Terrence Ross chipped in with 13.
Guard Troy Daniels led the Hornets (33-49) with 24 points off the bench, with guard Kemba Walker adding 17 and guard Gerald Henderson 15.
Toronto took a five-point lead after the first quarter and expanded it to 11 at the half, maintained it after three quarters before stretching to 17 in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter.
The Hornets whittled that lead to nine when Daniels hit a pair of free throws with 1:40 to play.
After DeRozan got the lead back up to 11, Daniels came back with a 3-pointer to cut the lead to eight. Daniels hit another 3-pointer to complete the scoring and cut the margin to five points.
The Raptors led 25-10 after the first quarter, with Ross leading the way with seven points while Walker had nine for the Hornets.
Lowry's 3-pointer gave the Raptors a 10-point lead nearly three minutes into the second quarter. Daniels soon cut the lead to two points with consecutive 3-pointers and forward Noah Vonleh's hook shot tied the game at 38. After falling behind by two, the Raptors pulled away to take a 55-44 into intermission, with DeRozan ending the half with a buzzer-beater.
Lowry had 16 points at the half, and DeRozan and Ross scored 10 each. Daniels and Walker each scored 11 first-half points for Charlotte.
Valanciunas scored 10 points in the third quarter as the Raptors maintained their 11-point margin before going up by 17 in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter.
NOTES: Raptors G DeMar DeRozan (sore groin) did not play in the loss at Boston on Tuesday but returned to the lineup for the regular-season finale on Wednesday. ... F Amir Johnson (ankle) returned Tuesday after missing four games. He was back in the lineup again Wednesday as the Raptors had a full lineup. ... C Al Jefferson (sore right knee), F Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (left ankle sprain), F Cody Zeller (sore right shoulder), G Lance Stephenson (right toe sprain) and G P.J. Hairston (right knee sprain) did not play for the Hornets in their season finale. ... The Raptors had lost eight in a row in Charlotte before they beat the Hornets in their last visit in April. The Raptors also lost the two previous games in Air Canada Centre to Charlotte before Wednesday.
Top Game Performances
| Charlotte |
|
Toronto |
|
Troy Daniels 24 |
Scoring |
Kyle Lowry 26 |
|
Brian Roberts 5 |
Assists |
Kyle Lowry 7 |
|
Noah Vonleh 12 |
Rebounds |
Amir Johnson 6 |
|
Troy Daniels 4 |
Free Throws Made |
Kyle Lowry 4 |
|
Brian Roberts 4 |
Steals |
Kyle Lowry 3 |
|
Noah Vonleh 2 |
Blocks |
Amir Johnson 1 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Charlotte
|
87 |
42.3 |
12-33 |
15-16 |
15 |
36 |
3 |
8 |
14 |
| Toronto
|
92 |
49.4 |
12-33 |
4-4 |
27 |
32 |
3 |
8 |
11 |
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