Raptors win fourth straight game

TORONTO — Philadelphia 76ers coach Brett Brown saw discouragement in his team for the first time in what has been a difficult early season.

With the Toronto Raptors firing on all cylinders, the 76ers fell out of the game early on Sunday to remain winless in their first seven games of the season.

Meanwhile, with their 120-88 victory led by 24 points and six rebounds from guard DeMar DeRozan, the Raptors are off to the best start in franchise history at 6-1. They have won four in a row.

“That was not us,” Brown said. “We give Toronto credit. We came in here and we got manhandled. We understand we were playing against a team that has played together. They have elite athletes who can score and we got jumped. I felt like we got dispirited for the first time.”

The 76ers top scorer was guard Tony Wroten, who had 18 points, ending a string of four consecutive games in which he had scored at least 20 points.

“I thought we were very professional,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. “Those guys are a young team and I knew they were going to come out and play hard and they did that in the first few minutes of the game. Our guys played the way we should play in a game, starting with defense first. We got into a defensive game and that was our key and it got us going offensively.”

Forward Terrence Ross added 17 points for the Raptors while guard Lou Williams had 16 points with guard Kyle Lowry scoring 14. Guard Greivis Vasquez chipped in with 13 points while center Jonas Valanciunas contributed 12 points and five rebounds.

“I think they are just rebuilding,” Lowry said of the 76ers. “They have great management and I think they have a good head coach.”

Forward Chris Johnson added 16 points for Philadelphia, guard Alexey Shved added 14 points, and center Henry Sims had 12 points with eight rebounds.

“Nobody is laying down,” Wroten said. “We have to come out every night as if it is the Finals, like we played Chicago a couple of nights ago. This is a team that we just played that is working for the playoffs so they are not going to overlook anybody, especially us. … They are playing for the playoffs and it showed tonight.”

The Raptors took a 15-point lead into the third quarter, and bumped it to 19 when DeRozan scored the first four points of the second half. DeRozan, who scored 13 points in the quarter, made a put-back layup to increase the lead to 27 points with 4:28 to play in the third. The quarter finished with the Raptors leading 88-63.

Williams hit a 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter to make it a 28-point Toronto lead. The lead reached 33 when Vasquez put in a layup and followed with a hook shot with 8:12 to play.

The lead was 41 points after forward James Johnson made a dunk with 2:32 left. The franchise record for largest margin of victory is 42.

Vasquez finished the first-quarter scoring with a 3-pointer that gave the Raptors a 33-20 lead. DeRozan led all scorers with nine points in the opening quarter.

The Raptors led by as many as 19 points during the second quarter. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Johnson in the final minute cut the lead to 13, but Lowry closed the half with a layup for a 60-45 Toronto lead. Wroten led all first-half scorers with 13 points.

“I expected the Raptors to be the Raptors,” Sims said. “We kind of let them do whatever they wanted.”

“We didn’t let up at any point,” DeRozan said. “They hit a couple of 3s in a row and we picked it up on the defensive end. We didn’t give them any hope and that’s how we have to play when we gain leads.”

NOTES: C Nerlens Noel (left ankle sprain) and F Malcolm Thomas (fluid on left knee) did not play for Philadelphia on Sunday. Neither played in Friday’s loss to the Chicago Bulls. … Raptors F Amir Johnson (sore left ankle), who left Friday’s win over the Washington Wizards in the second half after missing the three previous games, returned to the starting lineup on Sunday. … Raptors G Kyle Lowry, a Philadelphia native, recorded his sixth career triple-double on Friday when he had 13 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. …The Raptors won all four games between the teams last season. … The Raptors play the third of seven consecutive home games on Tuesday when they meet the Orlando Magic. … The 76ers visit the Dallas Mavericks for their next game on Thursday.