Raptors Clippers 121 103
RAPTORS121, CLIPPERS103
With the Super Bowl as Sunday’s hot ticket, the Toronto Raptors were perfectly happy to cruise to a straightforward 121-103 win over the Los Angeles Clippers hours before action began on the gridiron.
“That was probably not the most intense game of basketball we’ve seen in this building for a while,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. “We’ll take one every once and a while in this long season.”
The blowout victory marked the seventh time this season that the Raptors have won a game by 18 points or more. The visitors never held more than a three-point lead.
Kawhi Leonard was the Raptors’ high scorer with 18 points in front of a crowd that included Clippers owner Steve Ballmer sitting courtside, but it was the visitors’ resident Canadian, Hamilton’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who led all scorers with 19 points in his professional debut on home soil since his sophomore year of high school.
Leonard was helped by Serge Ibaka, who finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds for a career-high sixth straight double-double, and double-digit scoring from Pascal Siakam, Delon Wright and C.J. Miles, who tied a season high with 15 points.
While the game may have been easier than normal for the home side, the path forward may not be after Kyle Lowry sat out with back soreness.
Lowry lowdown: There was no indication of when Lowry, the Raptors’ all-star point guard, will be back in action. He missed 11 games in December and January in part because of back issues. “Medical has told me he’s out because of his back,” Nurse said pre-game. “I’m sure we’ll get an update on it as we go.” Lowry and Leonard have not played more than five consecutive games together this season, and just 28 in total.
True north: Before the game, Clippers coach Doc Rivers said he was worried that the pressure of playing in front of a hometown crowd might get to the rookie Gilgeous-Alexander. In addition to 19 points, the 20-year-old added five rebounds and three assists in 26 minutes .“It was fun ,” Gilgeous-Alexander said post-game .“Fun basketball. Playing the Raptors is always fun, the style of play that they play — up and down.”
Turning point: The Clippers ended the first quarter on a 12-2 run when the Raptors bench — Wright, Miles, Norman Powell, OG Anunoby and Greg Monroe — went cold for more than four minutes. The game was tied 23-23 at that point. But after the Clippers’ scored the first 10 bench points of the game, the Raptors’ second unit got hot and finished the afternoon outscoring the Clippers’ subs by 14 points. Nurse liked what he saw from his second unit, even when the shots weren’t dropping. He stayed with them to start the second quarter and was rewarded with an 8-2 run that sent the Raptors on their way. “I liked the way it was moving and they way they were cutting and thank goodness that some of those started going in because I thought they deserved a better showing than the score was giving,” Nurse said.
Up next: The Raptors return to action Tuesday against the 76ers in Philly at 8 p.m.