Powell and Lowry help depleted Raptors beat Rockets

TAMPA: Norman Powell scored 30 points, Kyle Lowry had a triple-double and the depleted Toronto Raptors beat the Houston Rockets 122-111.

The Raptors were without head coach Nick Nurse, five assistant coaches and starting forward Pascal Siakam on Friday night in accordance with the NBA’s health and safety protocols regarding the coronavirus.

Assistant coach Sergio Scariolo directed the team. He had been away from the Raptors while coaching Spain in FIBA’s EuroBasket 2022 qualifiers and just cleared quarantine on Friday.

Scariolo has extensive experience as a head coach, winning championships of leagues in Italy, Spain and Russia, plus has been Spain’s national coach – helping their team win medals at the 2012 London Games and 2016 Rio de Janiero Olympics, plus capture the Basketball World Cup title in 2019.

Siakam was listed as out about two hours before the game, indicating that he either has a testing issue or a contact tracing issue. He played on Wednesday night in Miami in the Raptors’ loss to the Heat.

Lowry had 20 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists to help the Raptors hand the Rockets their 10th straight loss. Fred VanVleet added 25 points, making 5 of 11 three-pointers. Lowry was 4 of 5 from long range, and Powell 4 of 8.

Victor Oladipo led the Rockets with 27 points, and John Wall had 21 points and 12 assists.Meanwhile, Jimmy Butler scored a season-high 33 points, Goran Dragic tied his season best with 26 and Miami held on to beat NBA-leading Utah, handing the Jazz their third loss in their last 25 games on Friday.

Bam Adebayo had 19 points and 11 rebounds for Miami as they won 124-116, for their fifth straight victory.

Donovan Mitchell scored 30 for the Jazz. They dropped to 26-7.

In another game, LeBron James had 28 points, Dennis Schroder added 22 in his return to Los Angeles’ lineup, as the Lakers beat Portland 102-93 to snap a four-game losing streak.

Montrezl Harrell had 17 points, and James added 11 rebounds and seven assists to help the defending NBA champions avoided their longest losing streak since March 2019. Schroder was outstanding after a four-game absence under the NBA’s health and safety protocols.

Damian Lillard scored 24 of his 35 points in the first half for Portland. — AP