Raptors cruise past Lakers as Dwane Casey clinches all-star coaching duties
Toronto guard Fred VanVleet scores career-high 25 points
Fred VanVleet still had a loss from two days prior dwelling on his mind when he took the floor Sunday against the Los Angeles Lakers.
A motivated VanVleet set out to make up for Toronto's loss to the Utah Jazz on Friday against the Lakers, as he poured in a career-high 25 points off the bench in a 123-111 bounce-back victory.
"Obviously you want to get that bad taste, bad feeling away, make it go away," said VanVleet. "I thought we could've played a lot better against Utah."
DeMar DeRozan had 19 points and seven assists while Kyle Lowry finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Toronto coach Dwane Casey and his staff will coach Team LeBron in the 2018 All-Star Game thanks to the win. The victory moves Toronto a game back of the Boston Celtics for top spot in the Eastern Conference.
Celtics coach Brad Stevens is ineligible because he coached at last year's event.
"I think for our organization to give what we're trying to do here in Toronto, something special, to talk about [it] for a weekend and to put a light on our program and see what we're doing is the most important thing," said Casey.
Season sweep
Jordan Clarkson and Julius Randle each had 17 points to pace the Lakers. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 16 points.
Leading 97-86 with 9:31 remaining in the fourth, Toronto went on a 13-2 run to push its lead to a game-high 22 points. VanVleet scored 13 in the fourth and C.J. Miles added 11 to preserve the win.
The Raptors (33-15) completed the season sweep after defeating the Lakers (19-30) in their only other meeting Oct. 27 at the Staples Center, 101-92.
The Lakers saw their four-game win streak snapped.
Raptors coach Dwane Casey will coach Team LeBron at next month's All-Star Game. He'll be Toronto's first-ever All-Star Game coach. <a href="https://t.co/ksIsSZnv4J">pic.twitter.com/ksIsSZnv4J</a>
—@YahooSportsNBA"We just didn't play well enough to win against a team like this on the road," said Lakers coach Like Walton. "We didn't make shots. You got to really go after it and get it and for whatever reason we didn't play with that same edge [tonight]."
Los Angeles cut Toronto's lead to five by hitting three consecutive 3-pointers early in the third, but the Raptors used a 7-0 surge to push the lead to 74-62 midway through the period.
DeRozan poured in 12 third-quarter points, pushing Toronto's lead to 91-77.
The Lakers continued to struggle shooting, going just 7-of-19 from the field in the quarter.
'Small-man complex'
VanVleet, who is listed as six-foot, paced Toronto with 12 second-quarter points as the Raptors led 59-49 at the break.
"He's got small-man complex," said DeRozan. "He thinks he's six-foot-eight, but he realizes when he goes in there he's five-foot-nine... But he manages. He's one of the toughest guys when it comes to that."
Lowry finished with 10 points and seven rebounds in the half.
Randle led all Lakers scorers with 13 points and 10 rebounds through two quarters.
Tempers flared with 1:46 to play in the half after Jonas Valanciunas took a Randle elbow to the face. The two players had to be separated. The Raptors centre received a loose ball foul on the play while both were assessed technical fouls.
The Lakers, the NBA's second-ranked team in fast-break points, were held to just two in the first half and were shooting just 37 per cent from the field.
Serge Ibaka led the way with seven points and six rebounds as the Raptors jumped out to a 28-21 lead after one quarter.
Randle paced the Lakers with six points, five rebounds and three assists.
Toronto pulled away with a 10-2 run leading to the Lakers first timeout of the quarter with 7:19 to play.