Alan Anderson’s 16 points lead Raptors to easy 99-78 victory over Bobcats

TORONTO – Alan Anderson scored 16 points off the bench Friday as the Toronto Raptors led from start to finish in a 99-78 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats.

Jose Calderon had 15 points and six assists for Toronto (14-22), while Amir Johnson scored 13 points to go along with eight rebounds. Ed Davis added 12 points and eight boards of his own.

Anderson was 4-for-9 from three-point range against the only other NBA team he has played for. Toronto finished 12-for-27 from beyond the arc, while Charlotte was just 3-for-12.

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Kemba Walker each had 12 points for the Bobcats (9-26), who also got 12 points from Ben Gordon off the bench.

Toronto entered the fourth quarter in little danger of giving up the lead after Anderson ended the third with a three-pointer for a 76-58 advantage. Kyle Lowry hit a three-pointer with less than five minutes to play that gave the Raptors a 24-point lead, their biggest of the night, to put the game well out of reach.

The Raptors opened the game with some hustle. Landry Fields slammed a running dunk to give Toronto a 10-2 lead, forcing Charlotte to call a timeout after the Raptors scored six points on the fast break.

The timeout didn’t do much good. DeRozan stole the ball off a bad pass from Walker, smiled and as he looked over his shoulder, and jammed it to give Toronto a 17-6 lead. The Raptors finished the first quarter up 29-16 on the strength of 10 points from Calderon.

In the second, Terrence Ross showed no lack of speed after missing one game with a sprained ankle. The rookie guard sped up the court for a dunk off an assist from Lowry for his first points of the night and then scored another two and added a three-pointer to give Toronto a 20-point lead.

The Bobcats chipped away as the game slowed down, with a floater by Gerald Henderson trimming the Raptors’ half-time lead to 53-39 before Toronto pulled away again in the third.

Injuries: Toronto has led wire-to-wire in its last three victories. … The Raptors were playing without Andrea Bargnani (elbow/wrist), Jonas Valanciunas (broken finger) and Linas Kleiza (sore right knee). Bargnani has missed 12 straight games. … Toronto wraps up a six-game homestand Sunday against Milwaukee.