TORONTO — DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry led a fourth-quarter comeback Friday night as the Toronto Raptors defeated Brooklyn 116-112 for their 12th straight victory over the Nets.
The two Toronto stars combined for 21 points in the final quarter.
Brooklyn led by as many as 14 in the third as DeRozan and the Toronto offence struggled. But led by Lowry’s 10 points in the quarter, the Raptors closed the gap to 91-84 going into the fourth.
A driven DeRozan, who had just nine points on 4-of-12 shooting in the first three quarters, scored the Raptors’ first five points of the fourth as Toronto clawed its way back.
Helped by some timely stops, Toronto closed to within one several times with the Nets ruing missed free throws. And the Raptors pulled ahead 100-99 on a pair of Lowry free throws with 4:50 remaining.
A 7-0 Toronto run sealed the deal, although a DeMarre Carroll three-pointer pulled Brooklyn to within three at 112-109 with 31.3 seconds remaining. A subsequent five-second inbounding violation ended the comeback attempt.
Lowry finished with 25 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds while Jonas Valanciunas had 23 points. DeRozan added 21 on 8-of-21 shooting. Six Raptors scored in double figures.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Allen Crabbe and D’Angelo Russell each had 18 for the Nets.
The Raptors (54-19) came into the game having lost two of their last three — losses to Oklahoma City and Cleveland sandwiched around a win in Orlando — after tying a club-record with 11 straight wins. Still Toronto had won 19 of its last 22.
The Nets (23-50) offered a reverse picture. They arrived having won two of three but had lost 20 of their last 25. Brooklyn had also lost its last 11 games with Toronto, its longest active losing streak against any opponent.
Brooklyn was coming off a painful 111-105 loss to Charlotte that saw the Nets blow a 23-point lead and Hornets star Dwight Howard score 32 points and pull down 30 rebounds.
Toronto’s defence was missing in action early as Brooklyn, which ranked 25th in the league with 106.2 points per game, scored 64 on the Raptors in the first half to lead by five.
Prior to the game, Toronto coach Dwane Casey pointed — in part — to a congested schedule and resulting lack of practice for the team’s recent defensive shortcomings.
Lowry, who was averaging 6.7 assists a game, had six in a first quarter that saw Valanciunas lead Toronto with 11 points. Brooklyn led 32-31 going into the second quarter.
Toronto started the second with a cold shooting hand and trailed 64-59 at the half despite nailing six three-pointers in the quarter.
Only Valanciunas, with four trips, made it to the free throw line for Toronto in the first half.
There was a break in the action in the third quarter as officials checked the level of the rim near the Raptors’ bench, apparently after a request by Lowry.
The Raptors have made at least 10 three-pointers in 15 consecutive games, a franchise record.
Lowry sank a three-pointer to open the second half to break his own single-season franchise-record of 212 three-pointers, set during the 2015-16 season. Lowry had made 18 of 29 three-point attempts in the three previous games.
Casey credited Lowry’s work ethic and the fact that he is playing fewer minutes for his improved shooting from distance, saying “he’s not as worn down as he has been the last few years.”
“But he’s made himself into a great three-point shooter,” he added. “The guy works on it. We run a lot of sets for him to get them.”
Toronto came into the game with a record 849 three-pointers made this season. The previous single-season mark was 726, set in 2014-15.
The Raptors missed their first four long-range attempts before Valanciunas connected and finished the first quarter three of 10. They were 9-of-19 at halftime.
Crabbe made two three-pointers in the first half to erase the Nets’ single-season record of 169 set by Deron Williams in 2012-13.
Friday’s game marked the opening of a three-game homestand for the Raptors, with games Sunday against the Clippers and Tuesday against Denver to come.
Toronto is an NBA-best 30-6 record at home this season. The franchise record for home wins in a season is 32, set in 2015-16.
Brooklyn is just 9-25 on the road this season.
NOTES: Former Raptors Charles Oakley and Kevin Willis watched courtside … Toronto sharpshooter C.J. Miles missed a second game in a row due to illness … The Nets host Cleveland on Sunday … Former Raptor DeMarre Carroll went into Friday’s game leading the Nets in minutes per game, starts (67) and rebounds per game. “Credit to him and really our performance staff. He’s been resurrected physically,” said Nets coach Kenny Atkinson.
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press