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The Eastern Conference-leading Toronto Raptors are back in the great white north for a brief moment and will host the Dallas Mavericks Friday night from Air Canada Centre. The Raptors are 13-2 and have won six in a row, including Wednesday's 126-115 beatdown of the Hawks in Atlanta. DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points, Lou Williams added 22 and Greivis Vasquez scored 21 points for the Raptors, who shot 51.2 percent and scored 30 or more points in three of four quarters.
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The Raptors made 14 of their 29 3-pointers and the 126 points scored were a season high.
"We knew they (Hawks) played last night," said Raptors head coach Dwane Casey. "We knew we were going to come out and put the pedal to the metal. It paid dividends for us."
Kyle Lowry had 14 points and dished out 13 assists, and is posting an average of 17.8 points, 8.2 assists and 5.6 rebounds over the last five games.
Toronto's bench scored 52 points and has posted 50 or more in three of the last four games. It is 11-0 this season when leading after three quarters.
The Raptors are a sizzling 9-1 at Air Canada Centre and have won four in a row there. The nine home wins are the most in the NBA. The Raptors are second in the NBA with 108.0 points per game and are posting 106.4 ppg at home.
After hosting the Mavericks, Toronto will head west for three games against the Los Angeles Lakers, Sacramento Kings and Utah Jazz.
Toronto will wear its retro purple uniforms Friday for the second time as part of its 20th Anniversary Nights.
The Mavericks will play their next four games on the road against Toronto, Philadelphia, Chicago and Milwaukee, and are 4-3 outside of Big D.
Dallas lost two in a row following a six-game winning streak, but rebounded with Wednesday's 109-102 overtime victory over the New York Knicks. Knicks star Carmelo Anthony did not play and Dallas took advantage.
Future Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki scored a season-best 30 points and former Knick Tyson Chandler was a monster with an NBA-high 25 rebounds (10 on offense) and 17 points.
"He was ready for this game. He had a major impact on it," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said of Chandler.
Dallas was 7-3 last season when Nowitzki scored at least 30 points and leads the NBA with 109.3 ppg. The Mavs are second in the league with a 48.3 field goal percentage.
The Mavs, who shot 40 percent from the floor, had a 56-53 rebounding advantage and posted 29 points off 22 New York turnovers. Dallas, which scored 50 points in the paint to New York's 24 points inside, used a 9-0 run and forced six Knicks turnovers to pull away in the extra session (14-7).
Carlisle needs one win for 300 (299-193) with the Mavericks. Don Nelson and Dick Motta are the other Dallas coaches with 300 or more wins.
Dallas lost both meetings with Toronto last season and is 14-6 in the past 20 games in this series. The Raptors are unbeaten in the last three encounters between the teams.
The Mavs are winless in two straight and three of the past four trips to Canada. DeRozan averaged 27.5 points, 6.0 assists and 5.0 rebounds in two games against the Mavericks last season.
[SportsNetwork.com]
