Leonard's 45 points fuel Raptors over Jazz, Bucks win
LOS ANGELES: Kawhi Leonard poured in a careerhigh 45 points to lead the Toronto Raptors to a 122-116 NBA victory over the Utah Jazz on Tuesday.
With the win the Raptors improved to 28-11, keeping the pressure on the Milwaukee Bucks who boosted their league-leading record in terms of winning percentage to 2610 with a 121-98 victory over Detroit.
The Raptors were again without injured Jonas Valanciunas and Kyle Lowry -- whose return date remains uncertain after he received anti-inflammatory injections to combat back pain last week.
In their absence, Leonard excelled, making all seven of his field goal attempts in the third quarter as he scored 19 points in the period and the Raptors -- who trailed by two at halftime -- pulled away.
After making just two threepointers in the first half, the Raptors connected on their first three from beyond the arc in the third to seize control of the contest.
They took a 10-point lead into the fourth quarter, and while the Jazz managed to cut the deficit to as few as four, they couldn't get any closer.
"They're a well-coached team, they've got great guys on their team that compete every possession," Leonard said. "We just tried to stay in it til the end of the game. We had to get some stops on the defensive end and try to come back and execute on the offensive end -- it was a good win for us tonight."
Pascal Siakam contributed a career-best 28 points with 10 rebounds for the Raptors and Norman Powell added 14 points off the bench as Toronto improved to 28-11.
In Milwaukee, the Bucks won their fourth straight with the help of 25 points from Brook Lopez, 22 from Khris Middleton and 18 from Eric Bledsoe.
"I was feeling good," Lopez said. "We were moving the ball really well ... my guys were making great passes to me all night."