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Toronto Takes Down Charlotte

By Sam Perley, hornets.com

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The Result
Another valiant effort by the visiting Hornets was just ultimately not enough as they dropped their season finale to the Raptors, 92-87, on Wednesday, Apr. 15 in Toronto. With too many injuries to overcome down the stretch, Charlotte’s lesser-experienced players continued to take advantage of available minutes in the rotation but were unable to avoid a six-game losing streak to end the 2014-15 season. Troy Daniels set a new-career high with 24 points while Kyle Lowry led Toronto with a game-high 26 points in the Raptors win.

Turning Points
Charlotte finally pulled ahead of the Raptors, 40-38, with 5:37 remaining in the second quarter before Toronto responded with a 17-4 run to finish out the frame and take an 11-point advantage into halftime. The Hornets managed to hang around in the second half but never got closer than five points, which was only in the final seconds of the fourth quarter, as they dropped their second showdown in a week to the Raptors in the season-series finale.

Inside the Box Score
Troy Daniels scored a career-high 24 points and has now scored 15-or-more points in three of his last four games after scoring in double figures just twice the rest of the season… Kemba Walker tacked on 17 points, three rebounds, four assists and three steals for the Hornets… Gerald Henderson also scored in double figures with 15 points… Noah Vonleh tallied nine points and matched his career high in both rebounds (12) and blocks (two)… Brian Roberts led the Hornets in both assists (five) and steals (four)… Kyle Lowry led the Raptors in points (26) assists (seven) and steals (three)… Jonas Valančiūnas (18), DeMar DeRozan (16) and Terrence Ross (13) also scored in double figures for Toronto… Amir Johnson pulled down a team-high six rebounds… Both teams were exactly 12-of-33 from three-point range (36.4 percent)… Charlotte won the battle on the boards 36-32, while the Raptors were tops in assists, 27-15… The Hornets connected on 15-of-16 free-throw attempts (93.8 percent) while the Raptors were just 4-of-4 from the line (100.0 percent).

Hornets Player of the Game
Troy Daniels exploded off the bench for a career-high 24 points on 7-of-15 shooting to lead the way for the Hornets in the final game of the season. Daniels also connected on a career-high 6-of-13 three-point attempts and has set or matched his season high for points in three of his last four games for Charlotte.

Raptors Player of the Game
Kyle Lowry had his best outing since returning from an seven-game absence on Apr. 10 finishing with game highs in both points (26) and assists (seven) along with four rebounds and three steals in the Toronto win. The ninth-year guard out of Villanova also drained a season-high 6-of-9 attempts from behind the arc and has scored in double figures in four-consecutive games.

Game Notes
Charlotte lost 16 of its final 21 games to finish the season 33-49… The Raptors finish the regular season with a 49-33 record, which is a new franchise record for wins…After winning six-consecutive games against the Raptors from Mar. 20, 2013- Mar. 6, 2015, the Hornets have now lost two straight to Toronto.