The Toronto Raptors have been the NBA’s comeback kids this season, although they are just as comfortable playing from ahead. They are also getting comfortable representing the Eastern Conference in the playoffs.
DeMar DeRozan and Serge Ibaka scored 18 points apiece and the Raptors won their fifth straight game, 94-86 over the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday night.
Toronto clinched a playoff spot for a franchise-record fourth consecutive year.
Photo: AP
“Our goal is to play for a championship,” Toronto coach Dwane Casey said. “That’s our goal in Toronto. Last few years, we’ve been taking those steps. It’s been a little rockier this year just because of injuries, but we still need to continue to take those steps.”
The Raptors lead the NBA with 19 comeback wins when trailing by double digits and they came back from 15-point deficits to win each of their last two games, but they scored the first seven points and never trailed in dealing the Mavericks’ playoff hopes a damaging blow on Saturday.
“We’ve been fighting uphill for the last two or three games and that is something we wanted to make sure we fixed when we came out,” Casey said.
Harrison Barnes scored 23 points for Dallas, which missed 18 of its first 22 3-pointers and finished just 7 of 28 from behind the arc.
The Mavericks fell four games behind Denver for the final playoff spot in the West. Dallas has made the playoffs in 15 of the past 16 seasons.
“We had some breakdowns and let them get some open shots,” Barnes said of the team’s early deficit. “But at the same time, they were making everything they were putting up. We kind of got caught between a rock and a hard place.”
Toronto led by as many as 16 points in the first half and by 15 early in the fourth quarter before a 10-0 Dallas run made things more interesting.
Dorian Finney-Smith’s free throws with 7 minutes and 57 seconds to go brought the Mavs within 79-74, the closest they had been since 7-2 early in the game.
Ibaka made consecutive jumpers to restore a nine-point lead, and Dallas got no closer than six thereafter.
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