Red- hot Raptors edge Nets
TORONTO — Fred VanVleet scored 10 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter, Pascal Siakam scored 20 points, including the tiebreaking free throw with 22 seconds remaining, and the Toronto Raptors extended their franchise- record winning streak to 14 by beating the Brooklyn Nets 119- 118 on Saturday night.
Terence Davis scored 20 points in his first home start, Matt Thomas had a career- high 15 and Serge Ibaka added 12 as the Raptors overcame the absence of All- Star guard Kyle Lowry for their 10th consecutive home victory over the Nets. Toronto has won 18 of 19 in the series, including six straight.
Davis shot 5 for 8 from 3- point range and VanVleet went 4 for 9 as the defending NBA champions remained unbeaten since a 105- 104 home loss to San Antonio on Jan. 12.
The Raptors, who won at Indiana on Friday, swept their third straight set of back- to- back games.
Caris LeVert scored a career- high 37 points, going 6 of 7 from long range, but missed a 3- pointer that would have given Brooklyn the win. Spencer Dinwiddie had 21 points and 11 assists and DeAndre Jordan had 15 points and 14 rebounds, but the Nets lost for the first time in three games without injured guard Kyrie Irving ( sprained right knee).
Davis started for Lowry, who was inactive because of a whiplash injury caused by an accidental collision with Ibaka in the third quarter Friday. Lowry was pictured on social media wearing a neck brace on the flight back to Toronto.
The Nets trailed by 12 points to begin the fourth but LeVert scored on three straight possessions to tie it at 118 with 35 seconds left
Siakam restored Toronto’s lead by splitting a pair of free throws with 22 seconds remaining. The Nets let the clock run down and gave LeVert a chance to win it, but his pull- up 3 bounced off the rim. Brooklyn’s Joe Harris grabbed the rebound, but missed from inside the paint as the buzzer sounded.
LeVert and Dinwiddie combined to make nine of 10 field goal attempts in the first, going 5 of 6 from 3point range, as the Nets led 36- 33 after one. LeVert missed one of his four 3pointers, but the pair was otherwise perfect in the opening quarter, scoring 25 points between them.
Brooklyn missed seven straight shots to begin the second, a slump that ended on a reverse dunk by Jordan with 7: 30 left in the quarter. Thomas scored 11 points in the second and Siakam had eight as Toronto outscored Brooklyn 33- 18 to lead 66- 54 at halftime.
Davis scored 11 points in the third and VanVleet added nine as Toronto took a 100- 88 lead to the fourth.