Raptors 108, 76ers 98
PHILADELPHIA -- Guard/forward DeMar DeRozan continued his hot streak by scoring 33 points Wednesday night, as the Toronto Raptors beat the Philadelphia 76ers 108-98 in a battle of Atlantic Division leaders.
Guard/forward Rudy Gay added 18 points, guard/forward Terrence Ross had 17 and guard Kyle Lowry contributed 13 points and 10 assists for the Raptors (5-7), who ended a two-game losing streak and moved into first place in a division featuring five sub-.500 teams.
The Sixers (5-8) dropped their fourth straight despite a season-high 28-point performance by center Spencer Hawes. Hawes, who also seized 10 rebounds, made his first nine shots and finished 10-for-13 from the field, including 3-for-4 3-point sniping.
Guard/forward Evan Turner added 13 points and 10 boards for Philadelphia, which was without forward Thaddeus Young for personal reasons. Guard/forward James Anderson also scored 13.
Sixers point guard Michael Carter-Williams, who missed the previous four games with a foot injury, scored 10 in his return, but shot just 2-for-10 from the floor.
DeRozan, who shot 10-for-19 from the floor, had scored 66 points in his two previous games, including 37 on Nov. 15 against Chicago, matching his career high.
Toronto began the night averaging 97.1 points and shooting 33.8 percent from 3-point range, ranking them 20th and 22nd in the league, respectively. But they notched their second-highest point total of the season and nailed 14 3-pointers in 29 attempts.
The Sixers have allowed the most 3-pointers in the league.
The Raptors, who never trailed after the first quarter, led 78-72 with 2:29 left in the third quarter before going on a 15-5 run to stretch their advantage to 93-77 by the end of the period. Lowry sank two of his three 3-pointers in that flurry, and Gay and reserve forward Steve Novak had one apiece.
The Sixers never drew closer than 10 in the final period.
DeRozan scored 22 of his points in the first half, five in an 11-3 run late in the second quarter, when Toronto extended a three-point lead to 11, at 55-44.
The Sixers sliced the gap to 55-48 by halftime, at which point Hawes had 14 points. Hawes made all four of his shots from the floor to that point, two of them 3-pointers, and was 4-for-4 from the foul line as well.
Toronto was 7-for-12 from the arc in the half, including 5-for-5 sniping in the first quarter. DeRozan was 3-for-4.
NOTES: Earlier in the day, the 76ers waived C Kwame Brown and G Darius Morris and signed G Elliot Williams and G Lorenzo Brown. Morris averaged 6.9 points while appearing in the team's first 12 games off the bench, while Brown did not play while recovering from what was described as a right hamstring strain. ... Lorenzo Brown, a second-round draft pick of Minnesota last June, was cut in training camp and recently acquired by the Springfield Armor of the NBA Developmental League. He had yet to appear in a game. ... Williams, who averaged 3.7 points in 24 games for Portland in 2011-12, missed last season with a torn Achilles tendon. He was with Cleveland in the preseason. ... Toronto F Quincy Acy did not play because of an ankle sprain.
