Winning their third straight game, Toronto Raptors edged past the Sacramento Kings, as Norman Powell and Kyle Lowry, who scored double figures, aided in a 118-113 victory on Sunday.
Powell scored 31 points while Lowry scored 30 points. Pascal Siakam made 23 points while Serge Ibaka and OG Anunoby did their bit with 15 and 12 points respectively.
Raptors lose lead
De'Aaron Fox had 28 points —18 in the fourth quarter — for Sacramento. Kent Bazemore and Alex Len added 15 points apiece off the bench, Nemanja Bjelica scored 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and Buddy Hield added 11 points.
The Raptors took a four-point lead into the fourth quarter, but the Kings opened with an 8-1 run to lead by three, 82-79. Lowry answered with seven straight points to give Toronto a four-point lead with 9:05 left in the fourth quarter.
'Tie'd up
Sacramento's Bogdan Bogdanovic later tied the game at 94 when he banked in a jumper with 4:59 remaining. Sacramento took a one-point lead on a 3-pointer by Fox with 2:57 remaining. But Toronto took a two-point lead on Siakam's 3-pointer with 2:30 left. Ibaka's two free throws increased the lead to four. Fox cut the lead to one on a 3-pointer with 1:09 left. After Siakam made two free throws to make the lead three, Fox came back to tie the game on a layup and free throw with 34.3 seconds left.
Siakam's layup put Toronto up by two with 27.7 seconds left, then he made it a four-point lead at 115-111 with two free throws with 20.3 seconds to play. A layup by Richaun Holmes cut the lead to two six seconds later, then Anunoby made one of two free throws and Toronto led by three with 13.7 seconds to play.
Kings overcome12-point deficit
Bjelica missed a 3-pointer with less than 10 seconds left, the Raptors grabbed the rebound, and Powell sank a pair of free throws with 6.1 seconds to play to put the game away. Raptors center Marc Gasol returned after missing 15 games with a sore hamstring and had three points in 16 minutes off the bench.
The Kings overcame a 12-point deficit to finish the first quarter with the score tied at 22. The Raptors led 51-50 at halftime. The Raptors used an 8-0 run to lead 66-56 in the third quarter. Harrison Barnes made two free throws with 2:17 remaining in the third to cut the lead to three, but the Raptors led 78-74 after three quarters.
(With inputs from agencies)
