Zach LaVine scored 37 points, Coby White added 25 and the Chicago Bulls stormed back for a 110-102 win over the host Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night.
The Bulls trailed by as many as 14 points and did not get their first lead of the night until White hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to make it 95-94 with 3:54 to go.
Chicago outscored Memphis 63-42 during the second half.
Jaren Jackson Jr. posted a double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds to lead Memphis in its home opener. Teammate Jonas Valanciunas also notched a double-double with 10 points and 13 boards.
The Bulls ended the game on a 12-1 run in the final 2:17. White and LaVine made back-to-back layups to spark the outburst, as Tomas Satoransky and LaVine combined to go 6-for-6 from the free-throw line down the stretch.
After White's go-ahead 3-pointer, the Grizzlies regrouped to go up 101-98 with 2:29 remaining. Jae Crowder and Ja Morant made back-to-back shots to prompt a full timeout by Bulls coach Jim Boylen.
The Bulls closed the third quarter on a 9-2 run to pull within 81-79. White's basket with 2:17 to go in the quarter started the rally, and he added a driving layup and 3-pointer to account for all but two points during the run.
Memphis led 60-47 at the half thanks in part to a strong second quarter in which it outscored Chicago 31-22.
A floating jump shot by Shaquille Harrison pulled the Bulls within 29-27 in the first minute of the second quarter. But the Grizzlies quickly established a double-digit edge with a 9-1 run that included a jump shot and a 3-pointer from Marko Guduric, plus a 3-pointer and a free throw from Grayson Allen.
Brandon Clarke capped the first-half scoring with a layup with 22.7 seconds remaining.
Memphis posted a 56-45 advantage on the glass in a losing effort, including a 15-9 edge in offensive rebounds.
Grizzlies rookie Morant finished with 10 points, five assists, three rebounds and three steals in his second NBA contest.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
TORONTO -- Stephen Curry saw it as an insult that the Toronto left Andre Iguodala open for what became the decisive 3-point basket in Golden State's victory Sunday in the NBA Finals.
That made it all the sweeter when Iguodala, who was 1-of-14 from beyond the arc before his crucial shot, sank the bucket to clinch a 109-104 victory that pulled the defending champions level 1-1 in the best-of-seven series.
"It's kind of disrespectful to leave Andre Iguodala open like that," Curry said. "He has made big shots like that before."
Raptors reserve Fred VanVleet, who struck for 17 points in the loss, said Toronto was not insulting Iguodala, but he simply was the option they were most willing to have take a long-range shot in the late-game situation.
"They found Iggy on the way back out and he got a wide-open look," said VanVleet. "He knocked it down. So that was a really big shot for him. We would like to have contested that a little bit more.
"We don't disrespect those guys. We know Iggy's made big shots in his whole career. We've seen that movie before."
When the alternative is leaving the ball in the hands of 30-point sharpshooter Stephen Curry, who struck for 23 points, Iguodala didn't seem so bad a choice.
"I'm going to probably live with that," Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. "It wasn't like we were disrespecting him and not trying to guard him.
"He misses that we call timeout, we go down with a chance to win the ball game unbelievably, somehow."
The Raptors led by 12 in the second quarter, surrendered the first 18 points of the third quarter to fall behind by 13 and nearly battled back to win by silencing Golden State more more than 5:30 until Iguodala's shot.
"He's just got a lot of experience," Kerr said. "He has done everything in his career, been in the Olympics, won three rings, one of the smartest players I've ever been around.
"I think he sensed that we needed his production in that second half and he came alive.
Warriors teammate Draymond Green said Iguodala's shot was simply what the team knows he can do.
"As big as Andre's shot was, we have come to expect Andre to hit big shots," Green said. "Since he's been here I've seen him hit several game winners. I've seen him put the icing on the cake at several wins."
source: news.abs-cbn.com
Pascal Siakam, who once studied to be a priest, answered Canadian prayers by leading the Toronto Raptors to a 118-109 win over the Golden State Warriors on Thursday in the first NBA Finals game played outside of the United States.
The turbo-charged Cameroonian had a near perfect night from the field, hitting on 14-of-17 shots for 32 points while pulling down eight rebounds and dishing out five assists to help Toronto stake a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
The Raptors had a country on the edge of their seat as they took on a Golden State juggernaut playing in their fifth consecutive Finals and chasing a third straight title.
If Canada had a case of the jitters with their only NBA team making their first Finals appearance, Siakam had none, particularly in the third quarter when he was perfect hitting on all six of his shots.
"It's amazing and it just proves that if you put the work in, man, and it's something that it's so cliche, but that's the story of my life," said Siakam, nicknamed Spicy P.
"Just going out there every single night, working hard to get to this level, and knowing that I have so much to learn and I have so much room to improve and grow.
"I think that's what make it's fun. And for me just kind of falling in love with the game and wanting to get better and wanting to learn."
Siakam was a skinny kid from a Cameroon Seminary studying to become Catholic priest when he caught the eye of former NBA player Luc Mbah a Moute and was chosen to attend a Basketball Without Borders camp.
The improbable journey continued with a basketball scholarship to New Mexico State University and then selection by the Raptors in the first round of the 2016 draft with the 27th pick.
Ask coaches or team mates about Siakam and the first thing they mention is his drive to become a better player, which is reflected in his being a finalist for this season's Most Improved Player award.
"Extremely hard-working like beyond -- I mean just super, super committed to finding a place in this league and improving his game," said Raptors coach Nick Nurse. "He believes in himself and he went to work at it."
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TORONTO -- The Toronto Raptors made history the hard way Saturday night, reaching the NBA Finals for the first time after rallying past the Milwaukee Bucks 100-94 in Game 6.
Trailing by 15 points with 2:18 remaining in the third quarter, the Raptors scored the final 10 points of the frame. Then, with Kawhi Leonard on the bench for the first 3:30 of the fourth quarter, they took a two-point lead.
Leonard returned, and the game was in good hands. He finished with 27 points -- seven in the fourth quarter -- a career-best 17 rebounds and seven assists.
"Just one possession at a time," Leonard said, describing the comeback. "We kept fighting the whole game."
The Raptors, who lost the first two games of the Eastern Conference finals before winning four straight, will open the NBA Finals at home on Thursday night against the Golden State Warriors.
"It's still surreal to me right now," Leonard said. "But this is what we've been striving for all season. It's not over yet."
Pascal Siakam added 18 points, Kyle Lowry had 17 and Fred VanVleet scored 14 for the Raptors.
"Kawhi stays level-headed all the time," Lowry said. "He brought that pedigree with him."
"He inspired us tonight with monster rebounds," Raptors coach Nick Nurse added. "It wasn't going well for us, it was kind of a frustrating night. ... But we kept playing."
Lowry has been through many playoff failures in seven years with the Raptors.
"It means a lot to me," Lowry said. "We beat a really good team in Milwaukee. But I'm not satisfied yet. Our goal is to win the NBA championship."
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 21 points and 11 rebounds for the Bucks, who had the NBA's best record (60-22) during the regular season. Brook Lopez added 18 points with nine rebounds and three blocks, Khris Middleton had 14 points, Ersan Ilyasova 13, and Malcolm Brogdon and George Hill 10 each.
"This hurts," Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. "But what they did in the playoffs tonight against a really good Toronto Raptors team, and to get to get the Eastern Conference finals, the regular season, a special season for us. We feel like we're just getting started."
"We have to get better as a team and get better as individuals," Antetokounmpo said. "This is the beginning of a long journey for us."
"We had a great season, we just fell short of our goals," Middleton said.
Antetokounmpo was asked about Leonard's playoff experience.
"You can tell from the way he plays," Antetokounmpo said of the 2014 Finals MVP. "He has so much patience, he knows what we wants to do, he has faith in himself and he has been in the Finals before."
Serge Ibaka's dunk tied the game at 78 with 10:31 to play in the game, and Siakam's jumper and VanVleet's 3-pointer capped a 10-0 run to give Toronto a five-point lead.
A key play was Lowry's steal and his handoff to Leonard, who dunked to increase the lead to eight with 6:46 remaining.
The Bucks came back with a 7-0 run to pull within one point on Antetokounmpo's layup with 5:19 to play.
Marc Gasol's 3-pointer had Toronto ahead by four, but Lopez reduced it to two with a layup at 3:29. The Raptors went up by five on Siakam's tip-in with 2:06 to play.
Lopez made two free throws with 29.6 seconds to play, cutting the lead to three, but Milwaukee never had the ball within one possession in the closing minutes. Siakam and Leonard finished the game off with free throws.
The Bucks were 6-for-9 from 3-point range to earn a 31-18 lead after one quarter.
Ilyasova's 3-pointer with 7:48 to play in the first half put the Bucks ahead 38-23.
VanVleet's 3-pointer with 2:28 to play in the half cut the lead to seven.
Ibaka's dunk with 1:32 left had the Raptors within five points, and VanVleet's jumper reduced the lead to three with 1:07 left.
The Bucks scored the final four points of the half to lead 50-43.
Middleton's second 3-pointer in three minutes had the lead at 14 with 3:46 left in the third. The Bucks worked the lead to 15 before the Raptors went on a 10-0 run, with Leonard scoring eight. The Bucks led 76-71 after three quarters.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
Pascal Siakam scored 19 of his career-best 44 points in the third quarter and grabbed 10 rebounds Wednesday night as the Toronto Raptors defeated the visiting Washington Wizards, 129-120.
The Raptors trailed by as many as 12 points in the third quarter, but scored 44 points in the quarter to take a 10-point lead entering the fourth.
OG Anunoby had 10 points in the third quarter and finished with a career-best 22 points for the Raptors, who were without Kawhi Leonard because of a sore left knee.
Kyle Lowry had 14 points and 13 assists, Serge Ibaka added 10 points and 13 rebounds, Norman Powell had 11 points and Danny Green 10 as Toronto entered the All-Star break with a six-game winning streak.
Jeremy Lin had eight points, five rebounds and five assists in his Raptors debut.
Bradley Beal led Washington with 28 points and 11 assists, Jeff Green added 23 points, Jabari Parker had 22 points and nine rebounds, Trevor Ariza scored 19, Thomas Bryant had 13 points and Bobby Portis 12.
The Wizards trimmed the Raptors' lead to two points on Parker's dunk and three throw with 7:50 left, but Toronto expanded the lead to eight with 3:43 left after a 9-3 run.
Toronto led 30-26 after the first quarter.
With 5:02 left in the first half, Green converted a free throw after making a 3-pointer and Washington led by two. Ariza made a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Washington a 65-59 halftime lead.
Beal had 16 first-half points and Green added 15 for the Wizards, who shot 51.2 percent from the field in the half. Siakam had 14 for the Raptors, who shot 38.8 percent in the first half.
Ariza started the second half with a 3-pointer. The Wizards led by 12 on Bryant's running dunk with 8:48 left in the third quarter.
The Raptors regained the lead with a 15-0 run, capped by Lowry's 3-pointer and Lin's layup. Powell's free throw increased the lead to 12 at 101-91 with less than a minute left in the third quarter. Toronto led 103-93 entering the fourth quarter.
The Raptors also were without Patrick McCaw (shoulder). Fred VanVleet (left thumb ligament) will be out at least five weeks after surgery Wednesday.
The Wizards were without Tomas Satoransky (personal) for the second straight game.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
Kawhi Leonard matched his season best with 37 points on 12-for-16 shooting, and the Toronto Raptors defeated the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers 126-110 Friday night.
OG Anunoby equaled his career bests with 21 points and eight rebounds for the Raptors. Pascal Siakam added 15 points and 10 rebounds, Fred VanVleet added 14 points and eight assists, and Norman Powell scored 11 points.
Jordan Clarkson had 20 points for Cleveland, Collin Sexton added 17 points, Larry Nance Jr. had 16 points and 12 rebounds, and Cedi Osman chipped in with 12 points for the Cavaliers.
The Raptors, who never trailed, led by as many as 14 points in the third quarter, but that dwindled to five points with 5:23 to play in the fourth quarter on Nance's put-back dunk.
Toronto turned it on again and led by 13 after Leonard's 3-pointer with 4:02 to play.
The Raptors used a 10-0 run to go ahead 12-2 before the Cavaliers countered with a 7-0 run. Paced by 15 points from Anunoby, Toronto was ahead 34-28 after the first quarter.
Matthew Dellavedova sank a 3-pointer before Ante Zizic made one of two free throws to bring Cleveland to within one point with 9:38 remaining in the second quarter.
The Raptors worked the lead back to nine on Leonard's layup with 6:47 left.
Toronto was on top 59-52 at halftime.
The Raptors took a 10-point lead on Delon Wright's turnaround hook shot with 9:11 to play in the third quarter.
The lead reached 14 with VanVleet's layup after a steal with 4:43 remaining in the third. The Cavaliers cut the margin in half, pulling within seven on Jaron Blossomgame's 3-pointer with 1:16 to play in the third.
The Raptors led 99-93 after three quarters, during which Leonard had 15 points.
Nance made two free throws with 7:55 to play in the fourth quarter to trim the deficit to five.
Anunoby's dunk and Siakam's layup returned the lead to nine with 7:13 left.
Toronto's Danny Green missed his first game of the season due to a sore knee.
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Kawhi Leonard scored 36 points, grabbed nine rebounds and added five steals to help the Toronto Raptors to a 113-102 victory over the visiting Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night.
It was the 13th straight victory over the 76ers at home for the Raptors, including two this season. Toronto has won 20 of the past 22 games between the teams overall.
Jonas Valanciunas added 26 points and eight reboundsin just 18 minutes off the bench, while Serge Ibaka had 18 points and eight rebounds for the Raptors, who have won nine of their past 10 games.
Jimmy Butler scored 38 points and nabbed 10 rebounds for the 76ers, who had a four-game winning streak stopped. JJ Redick added 25 points, Joel Embiid had 10 points (5-for-17 shooting) and 12 rebounds and Ben Simmons had eight points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists.
The 76ers' last win in Toronto was on Nov. 10, 2012.
Toronto led by as many as eight in a tight game for three quarters, took a one-point lead into the fourth quarter and led by nine on a turnaround fadeaway jumper by Valanciunas with 9:06 remaining.
Valanciunas came back with a dunk to stretch the margin to 11. Leonard's coast-to-coast dunk extended the lead to 15 points with 3:59 to play.
Redick's jumper closed out the first-quarter scoring and gave Philadelphia a 29-23 lead.
The Raptors led 34-33 after two Lowry free throws with 7:38 left in the second quarter. The 76ers were soon back in front, going up by six on Butler's 3-pointer.
Toronto ran off 13 straight points, capped by Leonard's 3-pointer with 37 seconds left in the half that produced a seven-point lead. Mike Muscala answered the 3-pointer for the Sixers and the Raptors led 53-49 at halftime.
Danny Green's 3-pointer gave Toronto an eight-point lead with 7:26 remaining in the third quarter. Butler pulled the 76ers to within two points on a three-foot floating jumper with 4:21 left in the third.
About a minute later Muscala made three free throws to give Philadelphia a one-point lead.
Toronto regained a three-point lead on Leonard's 3-pointer and a free throw on a technical foul against Butler. Redick's 3-pointer completed the third quarter, cutting Toronto's lead to 78-77.
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Kawhi Leonard scored 29 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as the Toronto Raptors defeated the visiting Miami Heat 125-115 for their fifth win in a row.
Toronto also received double-doubles from Jonas Valanciunas, who had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Kyle Lowry, who had 12 points and 10 assists.
Pascal Siakam added 21 points while Fred VanVleet, CJ Miles and Delon Wright each scored 10.
Dwyane Wade scored a season-best 35 points off the bench for the Heat, losers of seven of the past nine games. Bam Adebayo added a double-double with 16 points and 21 rebounds, Josh Richardson scored 19 points, Kelly Olynyk had 11 and Wayne Ellington 10.
The Raptors led by as many as 26 points during the third quarter, but the Heat twice cut the deficit to eight on Wade's 3-pointers early in the fourth.
The Heat could not get closer than eight points, and when Lowry knocked down a 32-foot 3-pointer with 4:54 to play, the lead was 15.
Richardson's 3-pointer with 19 seconds to play cut the margin to 10.
The Raptors led 36-29 after the first quarter in which they twice led by as many as 11 points while shooting 75 percent from the field.
The Heat reduced the deficit to two on Ellington's 3-pointer with 7:11 to play in the second quarter. Lowry's driving layup restored Toronto's 11-point advantage with 2:13 to play in the half. Toronto led 63-54 at halftime.
The Raptors held a 17-point advantage with 10:20 to play in the third quarter when Lowry made a 3-pointer on an assist from Leonard on a play set up when Siakam's snared a defensive rebound.
Toronto's lead reached 26 when Valanciunas tipped in a pass from Lowry with 7:12 to play in the third.
The Heat used a 10-2 rally finished by Olynyk's 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 15. Wade completed the third-quarter scoring with two free throws to pull the Heat to within 101-89.
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Reggie Bullock hit a 5-foot fadeaway jumper at the buzzer with an assist from former Raptor Jose Calderon, giving the Detroit Pistons a 106-104 victory at Toronto on Wednesday.
Blake Griffin scored 30 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to help Detroit come back from a 19-point, third-quarter deficit.
The win made it a happy return to Toronto for Pistons coach Dwane Casey, who was fired in the offseason after seven seasons as the Raptors' coach. Casey received a warm ovation and a video tribute to mark his return.
EMBED -- https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1062904590805426176
Langston Galloway and Reggie Jackson each had 13 points for the Pistons, who gave Toronto its second consecutive loss, both at home.
Stanley Johnson added 12 points for Detroit, and Andre Drummond had 11 points and 14 rebounds.
Kawhi Leonard scored 26 points and grabbed nine rebounds for Toronto. Greg Monroe, playing for Serge Ibaka (sore right knee), add 17 points and nine rebounds, Pascal Siakam also had 17 points, and Jonas Valanciunas and Kyle Lowry scored 14 points apiece.
The Raptors took an 11-point lead into the fourth quarter, but the Pistons cut the deficit to four on Jackson's pullup jumper with 7:57 to play.
Johnson hit a two 3-pointers and Jackson made a jumper and a layup to put Detroit ahead 100-97 with 4:29 left.
Toronto's OG Anunoby missed two free throws, but Leonard cut Detroit's lead to one on a driving layup.
Leonard missed his first free throw with 3:00 to play on a clear-path foul but made his second to tie the game at 100.
Toronto was called for traveling, and Drummond's put-back layup put Detroit back into the lead. Griffin hit a jumper to make the lead four points with two minutes left.
Lowry put in layup and Leonard made a jumper for Toronto to tie the game at 104 with 38.8 seconds left.
Toronto regained possession with 10 seconds to play, but Leonard lost the ball with two seconds on the clock. After one Toronto block, Bullock put in a layup to give Detroit the win.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
