The Toronto Raptors (18 - 12) defeated the Dallas Mavericks (15 - 13) 103 - 99 on Tuesday night. The Raptors had a big lead early in the fourth quarter and nearly blew it against the Dallas backups. They were able to hold them off, but it was an ugly sight for Toronto fans as they nearly let a 16 - point fourth quarter lead slip away. A win is a win though and the defense was key. The Raptors outrebounded the Mavericks 53 - 34 and held them to just 35 percent shooting through the first three and a half quarters. The starters dominated this game all - around, as only one bench player scored in double - figures for both teams. The Mavericks were bad for most of the game tonight and played well for only 18 minutes. They shot 11 - for - 17 in a 31 - point third quarter, but shot under 42 percent aside from that. The bench players came in for the last six minutes and nearly brought them back from a double - digit deficit, but couldn’t quite make up for the starters poor play. While The Mavericks did win the turnover battle 17 - 6, they were killed on the boards. Dirk Nowitzki played just 28 minutes, but tallied 20 points and seven rebounds. Deron Williams left this game in the third with a hamstring injury and that really hurt the team down the stretch. The starters got a nice rest in the final quarter and that should be beneficial for Wednesday's game against the Brooklyn Nets. All the talk in Toronto has been about their bad starts, but that wasn’t the problem on Tuesday. They actually ended the first quarter up 32 - 16 and had trouble closing this one out. That's usually the opposite, as they have one of the best second half differentials in the NBA this season. All the starters played well, as four of them scored at least 15 points with Bismack Biyombo scoring just nine. Biyombo was the star of the night though, as he snatched a career - high 20 rebounds en route to his fifth - straight 13 - plus rebound game. DeMar DeRozan led all scorers with 28 points in the victory. Toronto will have a few days off until they play the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday.
["TeamStat(G,'Raptors') has 12 Losses ,has 103 Total points ,has 32 Points in 1st quarter ,has 53 Points in 3rd quarter ,has 17 Rebounds ,has 18 Turnovers ."
 "TeamStat(G,'Mavericks') has 13 Losses ,has 99 Total points ,has 16 Points in 1st quarter ,has 31 Points in 3rd quarter ,has 34 Rebounds ,has 6 Turnovers ,has 15 Wins ."]