VanVleet tops 30 for third straight game, Raptors rout Spurs

Updated Jan. 4, 2022 9:26 p.m. ET

Associated Press

TORONTO (AP) — Fred VanVleet scored 33 points, Pascal Siakam had 18 points and 12 rebounds, and the Toronto Raptors extended their winning streak to three by beating the San Antonio Spurs 129-104 on Tuesday night.

Gary Trent Jr. scored 21 points as the Raptors evened their record at 17-17, reaching the .500 mark for the first time since they were 7-7 after a Nov. 13 home loss to Detroit.

The Raptors have won eight of their past 10 at home.

Toronto’s OG Anunoby scored 14 points and rookie Scottie Barnes had 11 points and a career-best eight assists. Justin Champagnie scored a career-high 14 for the Raptors, who matched their season-high point total.

Former Raptors center Jakob Poeltl scored 19 points and Devin Vassell and rookie Josh Primo each had 15 as the slumping Spurs lost their fourth straight. Derrick White scored 12 for San Antonio.

VanVleet topped 30 points for the third straight game and fourth time in his past five. He’s the first Raptors player to score 30 or more in three straight games since Kawhi Leonard did it in four straight from Jan. 13-27, 2019.

VanVleet shot 12 for 23 and matched his season highs with seven made 3-pointers and 14 attempts from distance. He also had seven assists.

Toronto set a season high with 30 assists and shot 18 for 44 from outside the arc, matching its season best for made 3-pointers.

Forward Keita Bates-Diop came off the bench for the Spurs after missing Saturday’s overtime loss at Detroit because of a sore right hamstring.

VanVleet (13) and Trent (10) scored 23 points as the Raptors led 30-29 after one. VanVleet and Siakam combined for nine points as Toronto extended its lead with a 14-1 run in the second.

After going scoreless in the first, Siakam scored 12 points in the second and VanVleet added 11. The Raptors shot 7 for 14 from 3-point range in the quarter and led 68-53 at halftime.

Toronto took a 97-81 lead to the fourth.

For the third straight game, only family and friends of the players were allowed inside the arena. Toronto native Primo had expected to have a crowd of “hundreds” on hand for his first professional game in Canada, but had to reduce that to about 20 people.

TIP-INS

Spurs: Devontae Cacok, Doug McDermott, and Lonnie Walker IV were all unavailable (health and safety protocols) while Dejounte Murray (conditioning) did not play. … Matched a season high with 20 turnovers.

Raptors: F Svi Mykhailiuk and F Yuta Watanabe entered the health and safety protocols. … F Isaac Bonga returned after missing the previous four games. Bonga was in the health and safety protocols for three games, then sat out Sunday for conditioning.

UP NEXT

Spurs: Visit Boston on Wednesday.

Raptors: Visit Milwaukee on Wednesday.

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