The Phoenix Suns made a coaching change but it didn’t change their downward-spiraling direction.
All-Stars Kyle Lowry scored 26 points, DeMar DeRozan added 22, and the Toronto Raptors shaded the Suns 104-97 on Tuesday, spoiling the debut of interim head coach Earl Watson.
The visiting Raptors rebounded from Monday’s road loss to Denver that snapped their franchise-record 11-game winning streak.
“We knew they would come out and play extremely hard and try to get a win,” Lowry said. “This is a good bounce-back win for us against a hungry club.”
Watson was promoted from assistant coach to replace Jeff Hornacek, who was fired Monday after guiding the Suns to a dismal 14-35 record.
“It felt like the team had stopped responding to Jeff,” Suns general manager Ryan McDonough said. “We were disappointed with the effort and wouldn’t tolerate it going forward.
“We’ll measure the rest of the year on the basis of development, structure and discipline, just what the players asked for.”
Rising Suns’ star Devin Booker agreed, saying: “You can’t blame everything on the coach, he was great for us.
“We weren’t coming out there, we weren’t playing with energy, and we weren’t playing with passion.”   
Though the Suns lost their fifth in a row and 20th in the last 22 games, they played with more fire and fight than in recent weeks.
“The energy was positive,” Watson said. “I think we have another step to go.
“It’s not really physical with our team, it’s more mental and mental toughness is a fragile, unique path that we have to build slowly.”  
Markieff Morris topped the Suns with career highs of 30 points and 11 rebounds. Booker hit six triples en route to 27 points, while Archie Goodwin had 18 with a personal-best 12 assists in defeat.
Toronto led the entire second half and 95-81 midway through the period before Phoenix made it interesting.
Morris nailed a triple, Booker followed with two more before capping off the 13-4 run, with a layup to bring the Suns within 99-94 with two minutes left.
The Raptors got a huge break when DeRozan ran down an errant Lowry pass before burying a dagger 3-pointer from the right wing to beat the shot clock for a 102-94 cushion with 51.9 seconds left.
After Mirza Teletovic countered with 3-pointer of his own to pull the Suns to within five, Lowry iced it with two free throws and the Raptors won for the 12th time in 13 games.
“They played as well as they’ve played in a while,” Toronto coach Dwane Casey said. “But we kept at it and grinded it out.”
Elsewhere: LA Lakers 119, Minnesota Timberwolves 115: Kobe Bryant fired in a season-high 38 points, including his seventh triple of the game with 26.4 seconds left, and the Lakers (10-41) snapped their franchise-record-tying 10-game losing streak after escaping the stubborn T-Wolves.
Lou Williams scored 20 points and Julius Randle had 15 with 12 rebounds for the Lakers (10-41), who regrouped after blowing a 16-point second-half cushion for their first win since January 12.
Andrew Wiggins had 30 points to pace Minnesota (14-35) which has dropped five straight and 16 of 18.       
•Boston Celtics 97, New York Knicks 89: Isaiah Thomas led a balanced scoring attack with 20 points, Jae Crowder and Tyler Zeller added 16 apiece, and the visiting Celtics (28-22) knocked off the struggling Knicks for their fifth win in six games.
Arron Afflalo scored 18 points, Robin Lopez had 17 with 13 rebounds while Carmelo Anthony finished with 16 and 14 boards for the Knicks (23-28), who suffered their sixth loss in seven decisions.
•Houston Rockets 115, Miami Heat 102: James Harden had 26 points with a career-high-tying 14 assists, and the short-handed Rockets snapped a three-game skid after topping the visiting Heat.
 The Rockets (26-25) also received 19 points from recently re-acquired Josh Smith in place of centre Dwight Howard, who served a one-game league suspension for making contact with a referee’s arm over the weekend.
Luol Deng had 17 points for Miami (27-22), which had its season-high four-game success stopped.
•Portland Trail Blazers 107, Milwaukee Bucks 95: CJ McCollum scored 30 points, Damian Lillard had 14 with 12 assists, and the Trail Blazers (24-26) bounced the visiting Bucks for their season-best fifth straight victory.

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