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Leonard’s 45 points fuel Raptors over Jazz, Bucks win
LOS ANGELES, Jan 2, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Kawhi Leonard poured in a career-high
45 points to lead the Toronto Raptors to a 122-116 NBA victory over the Utah
Jazz on Tuesday.
With the win the Raptors improved to 28-11, keeping the pressure on the
Milwaukee Bucks who boosted their league-leading record in terms of winning
percentage to 26-10 with a 121-98 victory over Detroit.
The Raptors were again without injured Jonas Valanciunas and Kyle Lowry —
whose return date remains uncertain after he received anti-inflammatory
injections to combat back pain last week.
In their absence, Leonard excelled, making all seven of his field goal
attempts in the third quarter as he scored 19 points in the period and the
Raptors — who trailed by two at halftime — pulled away.
After making just two three-pointers in the first half, the Raptors
connected on their first three from beyond the arc in the third to seize
control of the contest.
They took a 10-point lead into the fourth quarter, and while the Jazz
managed to cut the deficit to as few as four, they couldn’t get any closer.
“They’re a well-coached team, they’ve got great guys on their team that
compete every possession,” Leonard said. “We just tried to stay in it til the
end of the game. We had to get some stops on the defensive end and try to
come back and execute on the offensive end — it was a good win for us
tonight.”
Pascal Siakam contributed a career-best 28 points with 10 rebounds for the
Raptors and Norman Powell added 14 points off the bench as Toronto improved
to 28-11.
In Milwaukee, the Bucks won their fourth straight with the help of 25
points from Brook Lopez, 22 from Khris Middleton and 18 from Eric Bledsoe.
“I was feeling good,” Lopez said. “We were moving the ball really well …
my guys were making great passes to me all night.”
Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo had a relatively modest 15 points, but
they included a stunning one-handed dunk over Jon Leuer in the final minute
of the first quarter.
– Jokic triple-double leads Nuggets –
Milwaukee were up by 16 by halftime, the margin swelling to as many as 28.
“Pleased with the focus, pleased with the effort,” said Bucks coach Mike
Budenholzer. “We keep talking about wanting to do it for 48 minutes … felt
like tonight was one of those nights where we got closer to that, without a
lull or very few lulls if any.”
In Denver, Nikola Jokic’s triple-double of 19 points, 15 assists and 14
rebounds propelled the Nuggets to a 115-108 victory over the New York Knicks.
The Knicks dropped their eighth straight, but they didn’t go quietly,
leading by as many as 10 in the first half and pulling within four points
with less than four minutes to play before a three-pointer from Jokic with
2:55 remaining helped Denver pull away.
Jokic notched his third triple-double of the season — scoring in double
digits in three key statistical categories as the Nuggets won their third
straight.
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1110 hrs