Siakam scores 37, Raptors hand Spurs 10th straight loss

By IAN HARRISON
Associated Press

TORONTO (AP) — Pascal Siakam had 37 points and 10 rebounds, Fred VanVleet scored 16 points and the Toronto Raptors beat San Antonio 112-98 on Wednesday night, handing the struggling Spurs their 10th consecutive loss.

Chris Boucher had 18 points and 11 rebounds off the bench in Toronto’s third straight win.

Gary Trent Jr. scored 15 points, and Scottie Barnes and Precious Achiuwa each scored 10 for the Raptors, who have won the past five meetings with the Spurs.

Siakam led Toronto with seven assists and shot 15 for 21, connecting on his first eight attempts. He went 3 for 3 from 3-point range and shot 4 of 5 at the foul line.

“He just looked assertive and aggressive from the jump,” VanVleet said. “That’s what we need from him. He was great for us tonight. He carried us.”

Boucher led Toronto with three blocked shots and also had three steals.

“He was really a force out there,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said.

Keldon Johnson scored 22 points, Josh Richardson had 14 and Doug McDermott 13 for San Antonio, which has not won since Jan. 17 against Brooklyn. Former Raptor Jakob Poeltl scored 12 points and Keita Bates-Diop had 10.

It’s the second time this season the Spurs have lost at least 10 straight. They had a season-worst 11-game slump between Nov. 14 and Dec. 4.

San Antonio made 16 turnovers, leading to 22 points for Toronto. The Spurs made 18 turnovers in Monday’s loss at Chicago.

“When you turn it over against Toronto, it’s like a bucket at the other end with their speed and their athleticism,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “They got too many points off our turnovers, but that’s how they play. That’s one of their strengths.”

Poeltl, who was close friends with Siakam when they both played in Toronto, said his old pal did a good job of picking his spots against the Spurs.

“He made tough shots tonight,” Poeltl said. “I felt like at times we played really good defense on him, he just made better shots. Hats off to him.”

Siakam shot 7 for 7 and scored 18 points in the first quarter, his season high for any quarter, as Toronto led 34-24 after one.

San Antonio rallied in the second, but the Raptors held a 57-54 lead at the half.

Siakam scored nine points in the third, and VanVleet and Trent each had six, as Toronto took an 88-75 edge to the fourth.

TIP-INS

Spurs: F Jeremy Sochan (sore lower back) and G Tre Jones (sore left foot) each sat for the third consecutive game. … San Antonio is 5-20 on the road.

Raptors: Siakam had seven rebounds in the first quarter. … Barnes had nine rebounds. … F O.G. Anunoby (sprained left wrist) missed his sixth straight game. … Toronto played at home for the first time since a Jan. 22 win over the Knicks. The Raptors went 4-3 on a season-high seven-game road trip in between.

TRADING PLACES?

With the NBA trade deadline set for 3 p.m. ET Thursday, VanVleet said he expects the Raptors (26-30) to be fielding calls from contending teams.

“We’ve got a lot of good players on a team that’s not winning,” Vanleet said. “That’s pretty much it. We haven’t played up to our standard this year, so we put ourselves in this position. Now we’ve got to deal with it. We understand there’s going to be probably every team in the league calling. We’ve got a lot of guys that a lot of teams would want, and we’re not in a great situation.”

UNHAPPY NEW YEAR

After going 2-13 in January, the Spurs have started 0-4 in February.

UP NEXT

Spurs: Visit Detroit on Friday night.

Raptors: Host Utah on Friday night.

___

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports