Nearly perfect VanVleet scores 36 as Raptors roll

Fred VanVleet scored a careerhigh 36 points and made seven 3pointers, and the defending champion Toronto Raptors added to their strong restart in a 107103 win over the Miami Heat on Monday in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

VanVleet finished 7 of 12 from beyond the 3point arc and was a perfect 13 of 13 from the foul line, besting his 34point total against the Pelicans last December.

Pascal Siakam added 22 points and Kyle Lowry had 14 points and eight rebounds for the Raptors, who are 20 since play resumed last week. Toronto resumed its season by beating the Lakers and remains in second place in the Eastern Conference.

Lakers 116, Jazz 108: Anthony Davis had 42 points and 12 rebounds, and Los Angeles clinched the No. 1 seed in the

Western Conference playoffs. The Lakers (5115) own a sixgame lead over the secondplace Los Angeles Clippers and have five seeding games left before starting their first playoff run since 2013. Utah (4225) has clinched a playoff berth and is fifth in the West, a halfgame behind Houston and a halfgame ahead of Oklahoma City. Davis’ final basket resulted in a fourpoint play with 42 seconds left, as he sank a 3pointer while being fouled by Rudy Gobert and made the ensuing free throw to give the Lakers a 114104 lead. 76ers 132, Spurs 130: Shake Milton made a goahead 3pointer with 7.2 seconds remaining for Philadelphia. Joel Embiid had 27 points and nine rebounds for the 76ers, finishing the scoring with a free throw with 0.4 seconds to play. Pelicans 109, Grizzlies 99: Brandon Ingram scored 24 points and New Orleans got a muchneeded victory over Memphis. Zion Williamson had 23 points, seven rebounds and tied a career high with five assists in 25 minutes, his most extensive playing time since returning to the NBA bubble. Nuggets 121, Thunder 113: Michael Porter Jr. scored a careerhigh 37 points and Nikola Jokic had a tripledouble to help Denver. Jokic had 30 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. He scored 13 points in the fourth quarter and overtime to help Denver strengthen its hold on third place in the Western Conference standings. Porter, who averages just 7.5 points, had the big performance in only his third start of the season. His previous career high was 25 points. He also grabbed 12 rebounds. Pacers 111, Wizards 100: T.J. Warren kept up his redhot restart with 34 more points, helping Indiana pull away. Two nights after scoring a careerbest 53 points in the Pacers’ first game at Disney, Warren had 16 points in the third quarter to spark a 222 run after Washington had fought back into the game.