Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Raptors roll to 3-0 series lead
Conley’s shooting leads Jazz to rout of Nuggets
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Pascal Siakam scored 26 points and the Raptors beat the Nets 117-92 on Friday to take the first 3-0 lead in a playoff series in franchise history.
The defending champs now can eliminate the patchwork Nets on Sunday.
“Our goal is always to win, and that’s what we came into the game for and I don’t think we worried about that,” Siakam said of making some team history with the 3-0 lead. “It’s just about taking every game and then going out and trying to get a win.”
Fred VanVleet scored 22 points, shooting 6 of 10 from 3-point range. Reserve Serge Ibaka added 20 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. Kyle Lowry had 11 points and 10 rebounds, and Norman Powell added 11 points.
Tyler Johnson led the Nets with 23 points. Caris LeVert scored 15, Chris Chiozza had 14 points off the bench and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot had 10. Jarrett Allen, who had a doubledouble in each of the first two games, was held without a shot attempt as he grabbed 17 rebounds.
“We even got to the point where we ran an after-timeout play for him, he got fouled during it,” Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said of Allen. “We were definitely trying to keep him involved.”
The Raptors, who led wire-to-wire in winning Game 1, never trailed in this game. VanVleet opened with a 3, and Johnson answered with a 3 before Lowry’s 3 put the Raptors ahead to stay. They led by as much as 31 in the fourth quarter.
“I like the intensity we’re playing with,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. “I think we’re taking most possessions pretty seriously, right? Not really paying attention to the score. We’re playing defense with some intensity and trying to do the coverages and execute the game plan.”
The Raptors led 24-17 at the end of the first quarter and 57-42 at the end of the second.
Allen finally scored his first points on a pair of free throws with 6:23 left as the Nets chewed away at that lead, but the Raptors led 84-68 at the end of the third.
The Raptors’ 3-0 lead now leaves only the Timberwolves and the Clippers as the other NBA franchises never to hold a 3-0 lead in either a best-of-seven or a best-of-five playoff series. The Raptors now are 10-10 in Game 3s.
Jazz in blowout: Mike Conley made a career playoff-high seven 3-pointers and scored 27 points in his return from quarantine, helping the Jazz rout the Nuggets 124-87 for a 2-1 lead in the first-round series.
The 37-point loss tied the thirdworst in Nuggets playoff history. The record is 44 against the Lakers on May 22, 1985.
Conley left the NBA bubble for the birth of his son and returned returned Monday night. He went through a four-day quarantine that ended Friday.
Conley was 7 of 8 from 3-point range and had four assists.
Rudy Gobert had a career playoffhigh 24 points courtesy of numerous easy dunks and layups. He also had 14 rebounds.
Donovan Mitchell was held “in check” — as much as he can — with 20 points. He had a Jazz playoff-record 57 in Game 1 and 30 in Game 2.
The Jazz led by 25 in the second quarter, built it up to 30 in the third quarter on a breakaway dunk from Mitchell and extended it to 39 in the fourth.
It’s the second straight lopsided win for the Jazz in the series after dropping Game 1 in overtime.
Nikola Jokic’s 15 points led the Nuggets, who had 17 turnovers and shot 37.5% from the floor.