TORONTO - Jonas Valanciunas scored a career-high 27 points and hauled down 11 rebounds in the Raptors' 104-100 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Monday — a victory that pulled Toronto even with Memphis for the best record in the NBA.

DeMar DeRozan added 23 points for the Eastern Conference-leading Raptors (12-2), who stretched their winning streak to five games.

Lou Williams, named the Eastern Conference player of the week earlier in the day, added 17, and Kyle Lowry finished with 14 points, eight assists, and seven rebounds.

Eric Bledsoe had 25 points for the Suns, who were playing the finale of their six-game road trip.

The Raptors led for much of the night against a Suns team that had won four straight, and took an 81-66 advantage into the fourth quarter, quickly stretching it to 17. But the Suns, who were looking to end their six-game road trip on a winning note, fought back and three consecutive three-pointers from Isaiah Thomas capped a 14-0 run that pulled Phoenix to within three points.

Thomas's fourth shot from behind the arc put the Suns within a point with 3:35 to play, Bledsoe converted a three-point play with just under two minutes to play to tie the game 98-98.

Patrick Patterson and DeRozan got their hands on two huge offensive rebounds, then Patterson drained two free throws to put Toronto up by two with 35 seconds left.

With the capacity Air Canada Centre crowd of 19,800 — it included Canadian tennis star Milos Raonic and Bruce Heyman, the U.S. Ambassador to Canada — on their feet, Lowry grabbed a loose ball. He won the ensuing jump ball against Thomas, sealing Toronto's victory, and sending happy fans home to the tune of Black Eyed Peas "Gotta Feeling."

The Raptors were coming off a 110-93 win over Cleveland on Saturday that saw them rebound from being 18 points down.

But coach Dwane Casey cautioned before the game that his team still has plenty of work to do, despite the team's hot start.

"Believe me, we're still a growing team," Casey said "It's still too early to look at records, and see who, where, what. . . My job is to continue to push, continue to improve in a lot of areas, and not get caught up in records or anything like that, because once you start doing that, that's when you get in trouble."

But once again, despite the final nail-biting minutes, the Raptors got it done.

Valanciunas made 10 of his 11 shots on the night, and the Raptors outscored the Suns 52-36 in the paint.

The game marked a homecoming of sorts for Tyler Ennis. The 20-year-old rookie from Brampton, Ont., was taken No. 20 in last summer's NBA draft. But Ennis, who's behind three point guards on the Suns' depth chart — Goran Dragic, Eric Bledsoe, and Isaiah Thomas — has played just 18 minutes in two games and was listed as inactive against Toronto.

The game marked the return of Raptors forward James Johnson, who missed three games after he rolled his ankle stepping on a cameraman.

Valanciunas had 15 points — three shy of his season-high — in a first quarter that saw Toronto trail by seven. The Raptors went on a 14-2 run capped by a running jumper from DeRozan to go ahead by five, and led 29-26 going into the second.

Ross was fouled on a three-point attempt and his free throws gave the Raptors a 10-point lead with just under five minutes to play in the second quarter, and Toronto took a 54-48 advantage into the halftime break.

The Raptors outscored their visitors 27-18 and shot 56 per cent in the third quarter, and led by 15 with a quarter left to play.

Toronto visits Atlanta on Wednesday, then return home to host Dallas on Friday.