Clippers Drop Third Straight; Fall To 6-6 On The Year
LOS ANGELES (AP) — DeMar DeRozan had 21 points, DeMarre Carroll scored each of his 21 points in the first half, and the Toronto Raptors held Blake Griffin and Chris Paul scoreless through the first 20-plus minutes of a 91-80 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday.
Luis Scola added 20 points and Kyle Lowry had 13 points and 10 assists for Toronto, which closed out a 2-3 road trip. The Raptors (9-6) shot just 37 percent from the field, but they outrebounded the Clippers 46-42 and forced 19 turnovers.
J.J. Redick scored 17 points for Los Angeles (6-7), which has lost three straight and seven of nine after starting the season 4-0. The only other time it was under .500 during Doc Rivers' two-plus seasons as coach was after his first game on the job, which it lost to the Lakers before winning its next three.
The Clippers, who blew a 23-point lead in a 124-117 home loss to the NBA champion Warriors on Thursday, sliced a 29-point deficit against the Raptors to 73-67 with a 17-2 run capped by Austin Rivers' short jumper with 9:26 to play. But that was as close as they got.
Griffin, who picked up three fouls in his first 10 1/2 minutes on the floor, scored his first points on a 20-footer 31 seconds into the third quarter. He finished with nine points and six rebounds.
Paul recorded five of his 11 assists before getting his first field goal on his fifth attempt, a 21-footer with 3:36 left in the second period. Neither Paul nor Griffin made a trip to the free-throw line in the first half.
Bismack Biyombo started at center for Toronto and had 14 rebounds in 31 minutes in place of Jonas Valanciunas, who broke his left hand during Friday night's 102-91 win over the Lakers when he was fouled by Kobe Bryant.
Valanciunas, averaging 9.3 rebounds through the team's first 14 games, has decided to rehab the injury instead of undergoing surgery. On Aug. 20, the 7-footer signed a four-year contract extension worth more than $15 million.
Carroll was 8 for 8 in the first half to help the Raptors build a 63-34 lead. But he was 0 for 5 the rest of the way.
Lowry, who had 25 points against the Lakers and tied a career high with seven 3-pointers in that game, didn't account for any of the Raptors' first 29 points against the Clippers. He finally broke into the scoring column with a pair of free throws in the final minute of the first quarter.
Lowry missed his first four field goal attempts before connecting on a 13-foot jumper with 1:41 left in the half, capping a 27-6 run that extended Toronto's eight-point lead to 60-31 — its biggest of the game.
TIP-INS
Raptors: Biyombo started 136 of 284 regular-season games with Charlotte during his four previous NBA seasons. . Terrence Ross, who scored a career-high 51 points against the Clippers at Toronto on Jan. 25, 2014, played 16 scoreless minutes in this one. . The Raptors missed their first nine shots in the fourth quarter. . Lowry's steal with 7:43 left in the first quarter gave him at least one in each of the team's first 15 games, eclipsing his longest such streak at any point of a season. Lowry also has converted 38 consecutive free throws. . Toronto was 4 for 17 from 3-point range after going 15 for 33 against the Lakers.
Clippers: Griffin played 30 minutes. Since the start of the 2010-11 season, only two players in the league have played more total than he has — Monta Ellis and LeBron James. . DeAndre Jordan had 13 points and 15 rebounds. He had a 20-rebound effort at Toronto Dec. 30, 2014.
UP NEXT
Raptors: Host Cleveland Wednesday night.
Clippers: At Denver Tuesday night.
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