RAPTORS SNAP LAKERS STREAK
LOS AnGeLeS—Pascal Siakam had 24 points and 11 rebounds, Fred VanVleet finished with 23 points and 10 assists, and the Toronto Raptors snapped the Los Angeles Lakers’seven-game winning streak with a 113-104 victory Sunday night.
Chris Boucher matched his career high with 15 points for the Raptors, who have won three straight and six of seven. The defending national Basketball Association (nBA) champions played without two key regulars after losing starter Kyle Lowry to a broken left thumb and top reserve Serge Ibaka to a sprained right ankle, but Toronto still rallied in the fourth quarter and hung on late for its 10th consecutive win over the Lakers.
Anthony Davis scored 27 points, and LeBron James had 13 points, 15 assists and 13 rebounds in his 85th career triple-double, but the Lakers lost for the first time since opening night against the Clippers.
Toronto led 104-92 with 3:50 to play on Terence Davis’s third 3-pointer after a rally by four reserves and Siakam, but Kyle Kuzma hit back-to-back 3-pointers while LA scored eight straight points. The Lakers then missed four consecutive 3-pointers with the chance to pull even, and Siakam threw down back-to-back dunks on the fast break to seal it.
norman Powell scored 14 points while starting in Lowry’s spot for Toronto.
Davis and James both had big games, but the Lakers’ supporting cast wasn’t helpful and their team defense didn’t look nearly as sharp as it had been in recent games. Kuzma scored 13 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter.
Danny Green went scoreless on zero-forfive shooting in 27 minutes for the Lakers, who signed him to a two-year free agent deal in the summer. The sharpshooting veteran won a ring with the
Raptors last year while shooting a career-high 45.5 percent on 3-pointers during his sole season in Toronto.
Siakam got off to a three-for-15 start from the field, preventing him from matching his 44-point effort at new Orleans two nights ago. But he excelled in the second half, particularly in a lineup including four reserves as Toronto jumped to its first double-digit lead of the night early in the fourth quarter.
Toronto opened the fourth with a 17-6 run led by nine points from Boucher, the undrafted Canadian who was on the last two teams to win the nBA title.
nikola Jokic, meanwhile, hit a fadeaway jumper with 2.4 seconds left in overtime to lift Denver past Minnesota, 100-98.
Jokic had 20 points, six rebounds and seven assists to help Denver win its fourth straight game. Will Barton had 13 points, including a pair of threes in overtime, and 12 rebounds. Paul Millsap scored all 14 of his points during a big third-quarter run and had 10 rebounds.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 25 points and 16 rebounds for Minnesota. Towns sent it to overtime with a corner three, but the Wolves shot a season-low 13.3 percent from three-point range and 35.1 percent overall from the field.
Andrew Wiggins added 25 points in Minnesota’s third loss in four games.
Devin Booker scored 27 points and hit four 3-pointers, Ricky Rubio added a season-high 22 points and 12 assists, and Phoenix routed Brooklyn, 138-112.
Booker was 10 of 14 from the field, making four of five 3-pointers, hit all three of his free throws and had nine assists.
Kelly Oubre Jr. added 18 points, rookie Cameron Johnson had a career-high 15. The Suns trailed just once, at 1-0.
The Suns won for the fourth time in five games and ended the nets’ four-game winning streak in Phoenix.
Spencer Dinwiddie led the nets with 18 points. Kyrie Irving finished with 15 points on seven-of-16 shooting. The Suns made 10 of their first 11 shots, including four of five 3-pointers. Phoenix led by 20
points in the quarter.