NBA: Raptors cool off Pacers in Lowry’s return
Credit to Author: Tempo Online| Date: Mon, 07 Jan 2019 09:17:02 +0000
Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry (7) drives between Indiana Pacers guard Cory Joseph (6) and guard Tyreke Evans. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Norman Powell scored 23 points and Kyle Lowry returned from injury to tally 12 as the Toronto Raptors snapped the Indiana Pacers’ six-game NBA win streak with a 121-105 victory on Sunday.
Pascal Siakam finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds and Serge Ibaka scored 18 as the Raptors won – despite missing Kawhi Leonard, who sat out to get some rest.
The four-time all-star Lowry also dished out eight assists after missing the last 10 of 11 games due to back and thigh problems. He played 32 minutes and shot four-of-10, going two-for-six from beyond the arc in front of a crowd of 19,800 at Scotiabank Arena.
”Good to be out there with my guys,” Lowry said. ”It felt good to be able to help them get a win.”
Danny Green scored 15 points and equalled his season high with five three pointers as Toronto returned from a victory in Milwaukee on Saturday to win their fifth consecutive contest at home.
The Raptors nailed 17 of 33 from three-point range, one shy of their season best.
”He’s a big piece of what we’re trying to do here,” Powell said of Lowry. ”It seemed like he hasn’t missed a beat.”
Bojan Bogdanovic scored 21 points, Domantas Sabonis had 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Victor Oladipo scored 16 points for Indiana, who have lost 14 of their last 16 against Toronto. The Pacers last win in Toronto was in 2013.
”This is a tough place to play,” said Pacers coach Nate McMillan. ”We haven’t had success here in a number of years. We never really established that we could stop them.”
Thaddeus Young scored 14 points and Darren Collison had 11 in the loss.
Toronto made six of nine three pointers to take a 37-35 lead at the end of the first quarter. Powell scored 10 points in the second and Toronto led 70-63 at halftime.
Ibaka delivered 10 in the third as the Raptors took a 96-84 lead into the fourth.
Elswehere, Bradley Beal scored 25 points as the Washington Wizards thumped the Oklahoma City Thunder 116-98 despite a triple-double from Russell Westbrook.
Otto Porter had 20 points, six rebounds and five assists, Jeff Green scored 16 points and Tomas Satoransky added 15 for the Wizards in the win.
“It has to be up there, there’s no question,” said Wizards coach Scott Brooks. “We battled. We played against one of the best teams in basketball. They’ve got a lot of talent. They’ve got three all-stars on the floor and I think we battled them and did a lot of things well.”
Westbrook finished with 22 points, 15 rebounds and 13 assists for his 12th triple-double of the season and the 116th of his career.
Paul George scored 20 points and Jerami Grant added 17 for the Thunder, who had their modest three-game winning streak halted.