TORONTO – The Toronto Raptors were an irritated bunch at halftime Sunday night, frustrated about being down nine points to the Golden State Warriors — a team that had embarrassed them in their previous meeting nearly one year earlier.

Two sensational quarters later, the Raptors and their fans went home satisfied.

DeMar DeRozan poured in a game-high 25 points and the Raptors limited high-scoring Golden State to a season-low 28 second-half points on the way to an 83-75 victory. The win was just the fifth in 16 games for Toronto, and provided a small measure of revenge for a club that surrendered 84 first-half points in a 138-100 thrashing at the hands of the Warriors in California last March 25.

Thanks to a tenacious stretch of defence from a hungry Raptors team Sunday, Golden State didn’t even reach its first-half total from that blowout.

“I thought our guys did a good job,” said Raptors head coach Dwane Casey. “That first half, we can cancel it out. But the second half, our guys came in and really gave us energy.”

Toronto’s second-half defensive effort may have been its best of the season. The Warriors, who came into the day averaging 97.6 points per game, shot an abysmal 11 for 40 after the break — including a 5-for-22 performance in an 11-point third quarter that allowed Toronto to seize the lead for good.

Casey praised his team for coming out in the second half and making a commitment to shutting down the Warriors — especially after his club had failed to do so two nights earlier, falling apart in the third quarter of a narrow loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.

“I told them (at halftime) to have a nice day, it’s a beautiful Sunday,” he joked. “I challenged them. I told them, ‘The game’s about frustration. It’s how we fight through this … feeling sorry for ourselves, fatigue, whatever it is, that’s not important. What’s important is how we approach our job as NBA players.’

“I challenged them at halftime and they stepped up and that’s what this league is all about … when someone challenges your manhood, you have to step up.”

Limiting three-pointers, second-chance and fast-break points were Casey’s goals coming into the game — and the Raptors accomplished all three. Golden State shot just 4-for-19 from beyond the arc, had only eight second-chance points and scored exactly one fast-break point — 39 fewer than it had in the lopsided win over Toronto last season.

“We have a lot of those little things that you don’t think you should waste time working on that we’ve been working,” said Raptors forward James Johnson, who had 12 points and 12 rebounds. “That’s been a benefit to us.”

David Lee had 22 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Warriors, who fell to 2-3 on a six-game road trip.

“It hurts really bad,” said rookie Warriors guard Klay Thompson. “This was a very winnable game, a team that we thought we were better than. We can’t let it carry over until (Monday) in Washington … (but) this one hurts, it’s going to sting for a while.”

Notes: Toronto overcame a pair of late injury scares. Leandro Barbosa — who scored 18 points in a solid effort off the bench — went down in a heap midway through the fourth quarter but was quickly helped off. Amir Johnson suffered an apparent knee injury but left on his own power. … The Warriors came into Sunday averaging 120.2 points in their previous five games against the Raptors. … A vocal contingent of fans celebrating Lithuanian Heritage Night cheered when Raptors F Linas Kleiza entered the game late in the fourth quarter. Kleiza is the only active Lithuanian-born player in the NBA.

TORONTO — Sunday’s performance by the Warriors was especially offensive — just not in the manner they needed.

No doubt, many were offended by Golden State’s abysmal offense in an 83-75 loss to the Toronto Raptors. Including some in the Warriors’ locker room.

“This one hurts,” rookie Klay Thompson said. “This was a winnable game. … We’re better than them.”

The Warriors (14-20) set a season low for points and shot 36.3 percent from the field, including 4 of 19 from 3-point range. They totaled just 28 points in the second half.

Certainly, the Raptors are no pushover defensively. They came into the game ranked ninth in the league in field-goal percentage defense (43.2) and 11th in points allowed

(94.1).

Still, totaling 75 points is anemic for the Warriors even without starting point guard Stephen Curry (sprained right foot), who missed his fourth straight game.

Golden State squandered its chance for a winning record on the trip. They get a chance at redemption Monday at Washington, another Eastern Conference bottom-feeder. But at this point, they’ll just be trying to save face.

“We needed to be at least 3-2 on this road trip,” David Lee said after totaling 22 points and 12 rebounds.

It seemed Golden State had found a rhythm in the second quarter. The Warriors made 10 of 18 shots in the period, turning a two-point lead after one quarter into a 47-38 halftime advantage. Lee had eight points in the second quarter,

and the bench — specifically Nate Robinson, Brandon Rush and Thompson — chipped in 16 points.

After back-to-back baskets by Monta Ellis, a 3-pointer and a turnaround jumper, Golden State held its largest lead of the game, 52-42, with 9:26 left in the third quarter. But the Warriors managed just six points the rest of the period. They missed their next seven shots and over the last 9:26 missed 14 of 17 and turned the ball over four times.

Golden State totaled 11 points in the third

quarter, getting doubled up by Toronto.

Over their last four games, the Warriors have been outscored 103-61 in the third quarter, an average of 10.5 points per game.

Ellis sounded at his wit’s end diagnosing the third-quarter concerns.

“Who knows,” said Ellis, his head buried and his voice just above a whisper. “Don’t know what to tell you. We had a 10-point lead and we came out and … I don’t know.”

For the trip, Golden State is averaging 80.3 points on 37.9 percent shooting.

The Warriors played defense well enough to win Sunday, which would have made them 2-2 on the trip heading to Washington. Golden State limited the Raptors to 37.2 percent shooting with 16 turnovers. Toronto never scored more than 23 points

in a quarter.

“That’s good,” second-year big man Ekpe Udoh said of the defensive result. “Don’t you think?”

So that means this one’s on the offense?

“We didn’t make shots,” Udoh responded.

Lee did, making 9 of 13 from the field. But the rest of the Warriors were 20 of 67 (29.9 percent). Ellis needed 22 shots to get 20 points. Dorell Wright was 1 of 9. Robinson was 2 of 12, missing all seven of his second-half attempts. Udoh was 2 of 7.

For a team that likes to brag about how many scorers it has, you would think topping 85 would be a cakewalk. But Sunday, the Warriors lost because they couldn’t score.

“Period,” Robinson said. “Point blank. Exclamation point.”