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TSN Raptors Reporter

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TORONTO - Kyle Lowry and John Wall sprinted to the opposite end of the court in pursuit of a loose ball, as the latter dove head first hoping to land his team an extra possession in what was a four-point game at the time.

The two point guards will share the backcourt in Sunday's All-Star game. They couldn't be more dissimilar, evident on this play.

"Nine times out of 10, you're probably going to lose [that race] to John Wall," teammate DeMar DeRozan said later that evening. "But Kyle made a big play on it."

"That's him, that's the type of player he is. That's Kyle Lowry."

With a short vacation on the horizon, that's a sequence you don't often see at this time of year, from a player and a team that have every reason to feel good about themselves as the unofficial first half of the season comes to a close.

The stretch leading up to February's annual all-star break can often be the most challenging in the middle of a long NBA season.

Aches and pains start to build up after 50 games or so, practices are sparse and the playoffs still seem out of sight. Meanwhile, a week of rest and relaxation with friends and family looms as you play out the remaining games.

It's a trap that often engulfs the best of teams, but the Raptors have come out of it in good shape, winning 10 of their last 13 games, including five of six against teams over .500 and three straight against daunting competition in the Clippers, Spurs and Wizards.

"A lot of times you just get in the monotony of playing games, practice, playing games, travel, playing games," Lou Williams said following a 95-93 win over Washington. "When you start getting close to knowing I can spend some time at home, I can spend some time with my family away from the game, you know it's difficult to stay focused."

"It's easy to look around the corner and get excited about what is ahead. But I think the group did a very good job of staying focused and staying patient and allowing the break to come to us and realize that we had to go into it knowing that some teams might not come with their A game, and we needed to."

The Raptors entered the fourth quarter behind by one point, shooting 40 per cent from the field with the Wizards nearly doubling their production in the paint.

Lowry's dive was just one example, Toronto made winning plays on both ends of the floor, salvaging another less than perfect outing and coming out on top.

"There were stretches tonight when you might think we already left for vacation," Dwane Casey said, "but what I liked is they kept grinding. We're not going to out-talent anybody, we've got to do it collectively. If we don't grind it, get on the floor for loose balls – like when Kyle dove on the floor from like 15-feet and hurt his hand, those are the plays we need to make."

Overall, Lowry had a quiet night. Williams was the catalyst offensively, pouring in 27 points two days after his first scoreless game as a Raptor. DeRozan hit just six of his 18 jumpers, shooting under 40 per cent for the sixth contest in a row, but made all 10 of his free throws - he's been to the line 35 times over the last three games - and hit the winner over the outstretched arm of a familiar foe, Paul Pierce.

"It's definitely important because we can't let anything slide, honestly," DeRozan said. "We can't take a day off, we can't take a game off. We dropped some games that we know we should have won. We just wanted to go into the break on a high note and be able to come back well rested and get right back to it."

DeRozan was giddy just thinking about where this team finds itself entering the break. The Raptors had 15 wins going into All-Star weekend in his second NBA season, they had 10 in his second, the lockout-shortened year.

Their 36 wins are the most they've ever recorded at this point in the season, besting their previous high mark by seven victories. That's more wins than they've totalled in 12 of the franchise's 19 seasons.

"It feels good," said the Raptors' guard. "We were trying to figure out how many games we had won at this point last year and we just couldn't figure it out. It's definitely big just to be at this point. I remember going into the All-Star break with 12 wins, or whatever it may be. Just a credit to the hard work and how far this organization has come."