DeMar DeRozan with another 40-point performance, Raptors beat Pacers 111-100
TORONTO — DeMar DeRozan was at it again on Friday.
DeRozan scored 40 points for the seventh time this season to help the Toronto Raptors keep up with the congested race for the top of the Eastern Conference while dealing a blow to the Indiana Pacers’ post-season hopes with a 111-100 win.
The Raptors have now won seven of their last eight games despite the absence of star Kyle Lowry and sit three games back of Boston for first in the East. But as DeRozan explained after the game, the cerebral point guard’s influence still looms large.
“With Kyle out there, we need him for a lot — he thinks for us a lot of times and makes the game come easier for all of us,” DeRozan said of Lowry, who’s out after right wrist surgery. “Without him, I try to do the same as if I was Kyle — try to think for everybody and try to get easy things going.”