TORONTO -- DeMar DeRozan poured in 23 points as the Toronto Raptors rode a rare offensive outburst to a 116-98 win over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night.http://www.nfljerseyswholesaleeshop.com/mlb-jerseys_milwaukee-brewers-jersey/ . Linas Kleiza added 19 points while Jose Calderon had 17 points and 12 assists for the Raptors (13-26), who wrapped up a 2-2 homestand with one of their strongest games of the season. Toronto set season highs in points and shooting percentage (59.2) while overcoming a shaky third quarter by dominating the weary Rockets over the final 12 minutes. Leandro Barbosa chipped in with 15 points and Amir Johnson had 14 in front of an Air Canada Centre crowd of 14,597. Chandler Parsons led the way with 17 points for the Rockets (21-19), who have dropped five straight games at the ACC and five in a row overall. The Raptors torched Houston in a hot-shooting first half, but saw their momentum wane in the third quarter. A Johnson 17-footer with 7:20 remaining gave the Raptors their biggest lead of the night at 71-54, but Houston used a pair of runs -- including a 7-0 stretch late in the quarter -- to close to within five. Kleizas three-pointer from the top of the arc with just over a minute remaining stemmed the surge, and the Raptors entered the fourth with an 82-76 edge. Toronto rediscovered its offensive touch in a sensational final quarter. Barbosa drained a three-pointer from the left corner to put the Raptors up by nine, and a DeRozan layup off a Calderon feed with 5:22 remaining restored the double-digit lead. Moments later, Barbosa finished off a 3-on-1 break with a layup and foul shot. The Rockets didnt challenge the rest of the way, looking worn down one night after losing an overtime decision in Boston. Toronto connected on nine of its first 12 shots to open up a 20-13 advantage, but the Rockets responded with a quarter-closing 11-4 run to draw even at 28-28. A Barbosa three-point play with 8:32 left extended the Toronto lead to five, and Barbosa hit a long jumper less than a minute later to cap a 13-4 run. Torontos Johnsons provided the biggest highlight of the night, as James found Amir for an alley-oop dunk with 1:22 remaining just moments after Amir denied Luis Scola for his third block of the game. Toronto set season highs in first-half points and field-goal percentage (64.9) on the way to a 58-46 advantage into the break. DeRozan led all scorers with 14 points while Calderon added 13. Notes: Raptors F/C Andrea Bargnani (calf) missed his 20th straight game Wednesday but will likely be back this weekend. Head coach Dwane Casey says Bargnani will need to get in at least two practices but expects the seven-footer to be back in the lineup Sunday against visiting Milwaukee. ... Houston came into the game with the second-worst road record among NBA teams presently above .500. Only the L.A. Lakers (6-13) entered Wednesday with a worse mark away from home. ... Rockets C Samuel Dalembert, a Montreal resident and a fixture of the mens national team, had 14 points and six rebounds in 34 minutes. Cheap Minnesota Wild Jerseys . - Jake Patterson stopped 39 shots, including all 17 that came his way in the third period, and the London Knights toppled the visiting Kitchener Rangers 6-1 on Saturday in Ontario Hockey League play. http://www.nfljerseyswholesaleeshop.com/nhl-jerseys_minnesota-wild-jersey/ . With Bayern playing the Club World Cup final in Morocco, Leverkusen and Dortmund could have gained some ground on the undefeated leader. But Leverkusen went down 1-0 at Werder Bremen and Dortmund lost 2-1 at home to Hertha Berlin, leaving Bayern seven points ahead of Leverkusen and 12 ahead of Dortmund, with one match in hand. NEW YORK -- The Brooklyn Nets acquired guard Marcus Thornton from the Sacramento Kings for Jason Terry and Reggie Evans on Wednesday, removing two little-used veterans from their aging roster and hoping a younger one can rediscover his scoring touch. Terry came from Boston along with Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce but has appeared in just 35 games after a knee injury, averaging 4.5 points on 36 per cent shooting. Evans was a favourite of fans but not coach Jason Kidd, who used him in just 30 of their 51 games. Evans made 56 starts last season and led the Nets with 11.1 rebounds per game, but lost his starting spot when the Nets acquired Garnett, and then fell behind rookie Mason Plumlee in Kidds rotation. Thornton averaged 21.3 points in 23 games with the Kings in 2010-11 after being acquired in a midseason trade with New Orleans. He then led the Kings with 18.7 points per game in 2011-12, but had fallen out of favour under defensive-minded coach Michael Malone, even getting benched at one point to make way for rookie Ben McLemore. "Marcus is a proven scorer in this league," Nets general manager Billy King said in a statement. "He is a young talent who will help us in the backcourt." Thornton, now 26 years old, is averaging just 8.3 points, 2.7 rebounds and one assist in 24 minutes per game this season. He has started 26 of 46 games and is shooting 38 per cent from the floor, including 31 per cent from 3-point range. Its the third move for the Kings since the season started as they rebuild under new owner Vivek Ranadive, general manager Pete DAAlessandro and Malone. Cheap Brewers Jerseys. Sacramento sent Luc Mbah a Moute to Minnesota for Derrick Williams on Nov. 26 and acquired Rudy Gay in a seven-play deal with Toronto on Dec. 9. "Were an unfinished product," DAlessandro said before the Kings hosted Golden State on Wednesday night. "Were just going to continue to try to change and turn it over and try to figure it out until we can get it right. I think change is good when youve lost a lot. You have to change. You always have to change." One of the biggest reasons the Kings made the trade is to give more playing time to McLemore and fellow rookie Ray McCallum. McLemore, the seventh overall pick out of Kansas, made his 27th start Wednesday night. "We have to see these guys play, and not in practice but in NBA games to see what theyre capable of doing so we can make decisions coming in the off-season," Malone said. The Kings, under the former ownership of the Maloof family, signed Thornton to a four-year contract worth about $31 million just before the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season. Thornton is making $8.05 million this season and is due $8.575 million next season. Hell bring some youth to a Nets team that loaded up on veterans in an expensive attempt to make a run at a title this season. But they came out of the All-Star break with a 24-27 record, good for only seventh place in the Eastern Conference. They could still make another move before Thursdays 3 p.m. EST trade deadline, even though they were already slated to pay more than $180 million in salary and taxes this season. ' ' '
