LOS ANGELES: Pascal Siakam banked in the winning shot at the final buzzer as the Toronto Raptors won their eighth consecutive home game with a 111-109 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Thursday.
Siakam’s basket, which was upheld by a video review, bounced off the backboard and went in after Suns’ Mikal Bridges had tied it 109-109 with 13 seconds to go.
“To be honest I didn’t know what I was going to do. I just wanted to take the last shot, whatever shot that was,” Siakam said.
“We came out early and had lead and let them get back in the game. We knew they were going to fight. We just had to make the big plays and we did.”
Siakam finished with 10 points and 12 rebounds, Serge Ibaka scored 22 points and Kyle Lowry had 16 points and nine rebounds for the Raptors, who have won six of their last seven contests.
“We call him P-Skills for a reason,” said CJ Miles. “He’s got a lot of skills. There’s a lot of things he can do with the basketball.”
Toronto coach Nick Nurse wasn’t please that his team squandered a 16-point lead but he was happy with the way Siakam closed it out. “He made a great move and finished it off.”
Miles returned from missing a couple of games with a hip problem to score 13 points and Fred VanVleet finished with 15 in the win.
Phoenix’s Devin Booker scored 30 points, Deandre Ayton had 15 points and 17 rebounds, and Kelly Oubre scored 18 in the loss as the Raptors swept a back-to-back season series against the Suns for the first time.
Toronto played without star Kawhi Leonard who was rested.
The Raptors lead 32-20 at the end of the first quarter, shooting four-of-nine from three-point range. Phoenix also fell behind 57-49 at the half.
Lowry, 32, came into the game needing six assists to reach 5,000 for his career. He got it in the fourth quarter dishing to Ibaka for a bucket.
“I would have never thought I would have gotten there at the start of my career,” said Lowry. “I’ll look back on this when I retire.”
Elsewhere, Joel Embiid played through the pain of a sore back to finish with 22 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists as the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Indiana Pacers 120-96.
Embiid winced and grabbed his back several times during the contest but still managed to post his 12th double-double in the past 13 games. He also has 38 double-doubles this season.
Jimmy Butler scored 27 points and JJ Redick added 20, including a half dozen from beyond the arc in the win.
Mike Muscala also contributed 11 while Ben Simmons had 11 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.
Thaddeus Young scored 27 points while Victor Oladipo added 15 on six-of-20 shooting for Indiana, who had a four-game winning streak snapped. Tyreke Evans had 13 in the loss.
In Oklahoma City, Kyle Kuzma scored 32 points as the LeBron James-less Los Angeles Lakers held on to beat the mistake-prone Oklahoma City Thunder 138-128 in overtime.
Ivica Zubac came off the bench to score a career-high 26 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, Lonzo Ball tallied 18 points and had 10 assists as the Lakers played their 12th straight game without James and Rajon Rondo. They are 5-7 with James and Rondo out of the lineup.- AFP
