Field Level Media
Mar 28, 2019
Pascal Siakam scored 14 of his 31 points in the third quarter as the visiting Toronto Raptors never trailed in rolling to a 117-92 victory over the league-worst New York Knicks Thursday night.
Siakam scored at least 30 points for the fifth time in his career and each instance has occurred since Jan. 1. The forward shot 11 of 19 from the floor while collecting five rebounds and five assists in a game the Raptors led by as many as 31 and stayed in front for the final 45-plus minutes after two early ties.
Danny Green added 15 for the Raptors, who shot 44.9 percent and made 20 3-pointers -- one shy of the team record set March 3, 2005, against Philadelphia and matched Oct. 19 against Miami.
Fred VanVleet contributed 12 points and eight assists while Norman Powell chipped in 11 points and Serge Ibaka collected 10 points and 10 rebounds.
The Raptors rested Kawhi Leonard for the second straight meeting with the Knicks but encountered little difficulties beating New York for the sixth straight time and 17th time in the last 20 meetings.
Toronto also limited the minutes of Kyle Lowry and Marc Gasol. Lowry played 25 minutes and scored all seven of his points in the first quarter while Gasol played 23 minutes and finished with two points.
The Knicks lost their fifth straight game and 13th in 14 contests since winning two straight over San Antonio and Orlando from Feb. 24-26. New York must win four of its last seven games to avoid matching the worst record in team history set during the 2014-15 season.
Rookie Mitchell Robinson led the Knicks with 19 points and 21 rebounds. Kadeem Allen added 18 but New York shot 36.5 percent, missed 20 of 26 3-pointers and committed 17 turnovers.
The Knicks were within 35-29 on a floater by Kevin Knox with 7:45 left but Toronto scored the next 12 points and held a 47-29 lead on Green's fourth 3-pointer of the night with 4:27 remaining. The Raptors took their first 20-point lead at 52-31 on a 3-pointer by Powell with 2:11 left and held a 55-36 lead at halftime.
The Raptors expanded the lead to 87-64 entering the fourth quarter on a 3-pointer by Powell with one second remaining and took their first 30-point lead at 97-67 on Siakam's alley-oop dunk with 7:52 remaining.
--Field Level Media