TAMPA, Fla. – Pascal Siakam scored 27 points and the Toronto Raptors made an amazing 24 of 48 three-point shots to blow by the Denver Nuggets, 135-111, in Tampa Bay on Wednesday night.
The win snapped a nine-game Raptors losing streak that was preceded by two cancellations and numerous issues with COVID-19 within the team.
OG Anunoby added 23 points and Norman Powell, who was traded to Portland ahead of Thursday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline, scored 22.
Toronto led 72-54 at halftime and they extended their lead to as many as 35 late in the fourth quarter. Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray had 20 each for Denver.
Three Stars of the Game –
1) Pascal Siakam – (27/8/6) – Siakam opened the door for the wave of three-pointers that thoroughly buried the Nuggets as he scored 16 of his points, including four triples, in the first quarter when he also scored 10 consecutive points.
2) OG Anunoby – (23/6/3) – It was almost like Siakam passed the baton to Anunoby in the second quarter as Anunoby scored 14 of his points in the first eight and a half minutes with three triples in that mix.
3) Norman Powell – (22/2/3) – Powell was more or less auditioning as we knew his days in a Raptors uniform were probably numbered due an impending trade. He scored 13 in a stretch from 1:44 in the second quarter to 7:49 remaining in the third quarter when a three-pointer capped his run and gave Toronto an 88-65 lead.
It was over when – Toronto bolted on a 17-6 run to start the second quarter as they scored 12 points in 2:13 that was punctuated with threes by Anunoby and Paul Watson, Jr. Anunoby’s follow with 6:37 to play gave the Raptors a 55-36 lead. Anunoby and Fred Van Vleet hit threes later as Toronto upped its lead to 65-41 with 3:35 before halftime.
Gold Rush – This was the second game of a back-to-back as Denver knocked off the Raptors on Tuesday. The Nuggets are 3-4 on the second day of a back-to-back … Nikola Jokic was once again the Western Conference Player of the Week last week as he led Denver to a 3-1 record by averaging 26.8 points, 12.4 rebounds and 8.3 assists and recorded three triple-doubles in those four games.
It’s A Rap’ – The Norman Powell to Portland trade was accentuated on Thursday afternoon as Gary Trent, Jr., and Rodney Hood come over to the Raptors. Kyle Lowry is still a Raptor as he was rumored to be headed to Miami or Philadelphia, but both teams pulled out ahead of the 3 p.m. trade deadline on Thursday.
They said it – “Tonight I shot five shots and didn’t care. OG played well, Pascal played well. If I am the one sacrificing for those guys and the team will be better that’s all that matters to me.”
– Raptors guard Kyle Lowry who celebrated his day early with a (+42) only four off the NBA record of (+46) by former New York Knick Mark Jackson.