TORONTO 101
PHOENIX 97
DeMar DeRozan scored 23 points to lead the Toronto Raptors to their first victory in seven games, a 101-97 win over the Phoenix Suns on Friday.
Amir Johnson added 16 points while Jose Calderon contributed 13 points and nine assists and Kyle Lowry finished with 15 points for Toronto (4-13).
Marcin Gortat, Jared Dudley and Shannon Brown scored 14 points apiece for the Phoenix (6-10).
The Suns were hungry to make up for a humiliating 117-77 loss in Detroit two nights earlier - their third worst margin of defeat.
Toronto appeared to provide the perfect victim, with the second worst record in the league, but the Raptors weren't going down.
The Raptors trailed by 10 points in the first quarter but chipped away at the Suns' lead. DeRozan scored on a putback of his own blocked shot with 0.3 seconds left to go in the third, to give Toronto an 80-76 lead with one quarter left in the game.
Calderon carried the team for much of the fourth, either scoring or assisting on virtually every point for a Raptors squad desperate to hold on for a victory. A three-point play by Johnson gave Toronto a nine-point lead, but the advantage slowly disappeared and a layup by Brown pulled the Suns to within 96-95 with 2 1 /2 minutes on the clock.
A Lowry steal and dunk put Toronto up 98-95, before Brown replied with a bucket with 1: 07 on the clock to make it a one-point game.
Lowry scooped up a rebound on a Gortat miss and was fouled, draining one of two free throws.
Then Andrea Bargnani, back after missing Wednesday's loss at Memphis with a sore left ankle, grabbed a huge rebound with three seconds on the clock and was fouled for two free throws to clinch the rare win for Toronto.
The strong ending must have been welcome relief for the beleaguered big man who scored just four points in 27 minutes. Bargnani, Toronto's No. 1 draft pick in 2006, has drawn the ire of Raptors' fans again this season, and last week against San Antonio scored just four points on 2-of-19 shooting.
Mickael Pietrus made his Raptors debut just hours after the team announced his signing. The six-foot-six three-point specialist spent the last four seasons with Orlando, Phoenix and Boston. The Raptors acquired him to fill the void left by injured Landry Fields (arm).
