Anunoby on fire as Raptors top Mavs
TORONTO: O.G. Anunoby scored 12 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter, Fred VanVleet also had 26, and the Toronto Raptors beat Dallas, 105-100, Saturday (Sunday in Manila), snapping a four-game losing streak against the Mavericks.
Chris Boucher scored a seasonhigh 22 points and had 13 rebounds as the Raptors improved to 7-2 at home.
Luka Doncic scored 24 points and Dorian Finney-Smith had 16 as the Mavericks lost their third straight. Dallas is 1-6 on the road.
Doncic, the NBA’s leading scorer, shot 8 for 15, going 2 of 4 from 3-point range. He had nine assists and seven rebounds.
Spencer Dinwiddie scored 15 points for Dallas, Maxi Kleber had 11 and Christian Wood 10.
Dallas trailed 81-73 to begin the fourth quarter but took its first lead of the second half at 84-83 on a pair of free throws by Doncic with 9:15 remaining. Toronto scored eight of the next nine points to lead 90-85 with 6:57 left.
Finney-Smith tied it 90-all on a 3-pointer with 3:48 left but Juancho Hernangomez scored to restore Toronto’s lead, and Anunoby made a pair at the line to make it 95-92 with 2:12 remaining.
Doncic scored with 26 seconds left to cut it to 101-100, but Thad Young answered with a pair of free throws. Dallas used its final timeout to draw up a play, but Finney-Smith turned the ball over and Anunoby was fouled, sealing it at the line.
VanVleet returned for Toronto after sitting out Wednesday’s loss to Brooklyn because of a nonCovid illness, but Scottie Barnes missed his second straight game because of a sprained left knee.
The banged-up Raptors were also without Pascal Siakam (straight right adductor), Precious Achiuwa (left ankle), Dalano Banton (left ankle), and Otto Porter Jr. (dislocated left toe).
Dallas led by as many as 15 in the opening quarter, scoring 11
led 54-52 at halftime. VanVleet and Anunoby each
scored eight points in the third and Toronto capitalized on seven
Dallas turnovers to take an 81-73 lead to the fourth.
In New York, Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum will miss Sunday’s (Monday in Manila) game against the Washington Wizards with a left ankle sprain, the NBA team said.
Tatum, who was injured in a loss to the Chicago Bulls on Monday, will miss his first game of the season after playing in all 19 of Boston’s games as they build a league-leading record of 15-4.
Despite taking a knock on Monday (Tuesday in Manila), he went head-to-head with Dallas star Luka Doncic, scoring 37 points in the Celtics’ win over the Mavericks.
He delivered another 30-point performance in a win over the Sacramento Kings on Friday (Saturday in Manila).
Tatum, who is also “managing” a left wrist injury, recently told the Boston Globe he would prefer to play every game, even if Celtics management might want him to rest.
“I saw I played the most minutes in the NBA last year,” Tatum told the newspaper.