Red-hot Raptors spread scoring wealth over Magic
Two days after laying waste to the sad-sack Charlotte Hornets, the Raptors thumped the injury-riddled Orlando Magic 113-97 in Toronto.
The defending NBA champions improved to 10-4, thanks to contributions from nearly the entire roster.
Fred Vanvleet scored 24 points, Pascal Siakam 18, Terence Davis set a new career high (for the fourth time in 10 days) with 17, Norman Powell added 15, Chris Boucher 12 points and 11 rebounds off of the bench.
Evan Fournier led Orlando with 21 points.
Orlando had won three games in a row before embarking on a four-game road trip. The teams will meet again on Nov.
29, already the third meeting of the year between last year’s first round playoff opponents.
The Raptors led 61-51 at the break when upon review, a D.J. Augustin three-pointer was ruled too late. At that point the game was still at least at least somewhat still in doubt. But the Magic lost all-star centre Nikola Vucevic
midway through the second quarter due to an ankle injury. Vucevic couldn’t put any weight on the ankle as he was helped off. At the time he had gone just 1-for-8 from the field, but led all players in rebounds and assists. Vucevic is just 2-for-21 from the field this year against Marc Gasol, who dominated him in the playoffs.
The Magic also lost starter Aaron Gordon at the half with an ankle injury of his own. Without those two pillars, Orlando fought valiantly for a spell, trailing only 79-68 after a third quarter that was tough on the eyes, but the Raptors pulled away in the fourth.
Powell has scored at least 14 points in all but one of his past seven games. That’s the kind of consistency head coach Nick Nurse has been looking for.
DOING IT BY COMMITTEE
With various Raptors missing time due to injuries this season, others have been required to step in. Instead of fretting about who has been out, head coach Nick Nurse says he has enjoyed getting a glimpse of what some other players can do.
“I try to look at it as a really cool opportunity for some guys, and don’t fret very long about missing some guys and say, ‘OK, let’s look at the bright side,’ ” Nurse said.
“We get a couple guys who get a great opportunity. We need to develop guys, we’re gonna need some guys later. Maybe some of our guys that are out get some miles rested and that’ll benefit us later in the year as well,” he said.
Nurse said centre Serge Ibaka could return at some point on the weekend. As first reported by Postmedia a couple of days ago, Ibaka’s tender ankle has mostly healed up. Kyle Lowry’s return date is less certain.
A few days ago Powell — who has been getting a chance to start with Lowry out — was asked what he’d learned about Toronto’s depth.
“We have a good team and the guys who are fighting for minutes, fighting for an opportunity, we know those guys were going to come in and step up,” he said.
“They’re hungry to go out there and play and contribute to the team. We weren’t really worried about what people were saying outside of what the team believes. We always have that next man up mentality and go out and lay it all on the line and we’re not going to back down and that group of guys that has that same mentality are able to just go out there and play.”
Davis, Rondae Hollis-jefferson and Boucher took advantage of the extra minutes in the first half on Wednesday, giving the Magic all kinds of fits. Boucher hit double figures in scoring for the fourth time in his past six games. Davis had 13 points in the first half, including eight in his first two minutes and set a new scoring high for the fourth time in 10 days.