Kyle Lowry once again lead the Toronto Raptors to a victory — it was a fitting ending to a fabulous year.
Lowry, wearing baby-pink shoes, scored 24 points and dished out eight assists, guiding the short-handed Toronto Raptors to an easy 117-97 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on New Year’s Eve.
“Kyle Lowry is a Hall of Famer,” said Cavs forward and Canadian Tristan Thompson. “He’s their backbone. He keeps this ship running and he’s playing at a high level. Kyle’s a bulldog, he’s going to compete every night. That’s why his teammates always love him.”
Six Raptors scored in double figures. Terence Davis matched his career high with 19 points, while Rondae Hollis-Jefferson had 14, and Fred VanVleet and OG Anunoby had 12 points apiece for the Raptors (23-11).
And then the defending NBA champions breathed a collective sigh of relief to see the end of their busiest month of the campaign.
The Raptors went 9-7 in December, and played the past seven matches without Pascal Siakam (groin), Marc Gasol (hamstring) and Norm Powell (shoulder).
“It’s felt busy,” said coach Nick Nurse. “I think we’ve done okay. I’m proud. I think the guys have fought. There’s only been a couple blips where we didn’t play worth a darn. Most of the time we’ve won or we’ve had a chance and they’ve been real close. They’ve been tough. Bounce of a ball here or there, we might have won a bunch of those.”
Coming off a one-point loss to Oklahoma City two nights earlier, the Raptors cobbled together a double-digit lead in the second quarter Tuesday, and by the time Ibaka hit a hook shot with 3:33 to play in the third, Toronto was up by 21. The Raptors led 86-69 to start the fourth in front of a festive capacity crowd of 19,800 at Scotiabank Arena.
The game ended the busiest month of the season for Toronto, with 16 matches including three back-to-back sets. The Raptors tip off 2020 in Miami on Thursday and Brooklyn on Saturday before returning home to host Portland on Jan. 7.
