The Toronto Raptors had all of the excuses in the world. The Indiana Pacers, on the other hand, didn't.
Jose Calderon scored with 4: 05 left in the first quarter to give Toronto a 19-17 lead and the Raptors led the rest of the way, holding on to beat the Pacers 74-72 on Tuesday night to snap a four-game skid.
DeMar DeRozan scored 15 points and Calderon had 13 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists as Toronto had a franchise-low five points in the fourth quarter.
"We were tired," Calderon said. "I think that's why we started missing shots and making bad decisions."
The Raptors, on the back end of their third back-to-back of the season, lost to the Utah Jazz 140-133 on Monday and arrived in Indianapolis at 3 a.m. before playing the Pacers.
Toronto was also shorthanded with injuries to Kyle Lowry (sprained right ankle), Landry Fields (right hand/wrist) and Alan Anderson (sprained left foot).
"We were exhausted," DeRozan said. "But it's about gutting it out. We had to rely on something, and it wasn't our offence tonight. It was all mental and heart."
DeRozan and Calderon each
had 10 points in the first half for the Raptors, who led 69-58 heading into the fourth and hit only one field goal the rest of the way, also a franchise low.
"We were doing a good job for three quarters, three quarters and a half," Calderon said. "There's always those few minutes, five, six minutes and the other teams make a huge run."
Things were different against the Pacers (3-5).
George Hill scored 18 points, including eight in the fourth quarter, and Paul George had 12 points and nine rebounds to lead the Pacers.
SPURS 84, LAKERS 82
LOS ANGELES - Danny Green hit the go-ahead three-pointer with 9.3 seconds left, Tony Parker scored 19 points and the San Antonio Spurs beat Los Angeles 84-82 Tuesday night in the Lakers' first loss since firing coach Mike Brown.
After Pau Gasol missed a three-pointer, Tiago Splitter's hustle prevented the Lakers from controlling the rebound before the buzzer sounded on Los Angeles' first game since hiring Mike D'Antoni late Sunday night. Interim coach Bernie Bickerstaff ran the team for the third straight game.
Tim Duncan had 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Spurs, who improved the Western Conference's best record to 7-1.
Kobe Bryant had 28 points and eight rebounds for the Lakers, who dropped to 3-5 after committing 17 turnovers.
