FILE – Pascal Siakam #43 of the Toronto Raptors takes the field after his team beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in their basketball game at Scotiabank Arena on November 28, 2022 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Highlight Blinch/Getty Images/AFP
Pascal Siakam scored a career-high 52 points Wednesday night and beat the next free throw with a score of 2:01 to the visitors Toronto Raptors, who were on a six-game unbeaten streak and ended New York Knicks winning streak with 113 points -106 wins.
Siakam’s 52 points broke his previous career high of 44, set three times before and was his eighth attempt to reach 50 in the NBA this season. He is also the first player to score at least 50 points at Madison Square Garden since James Harden had 61 for the Houston Rockets on January 23, 2019.
Siakam also added nine rebounds and seven assists to help the Raptors break the NBA’s longest losing streak. Fred VanVleet has 28 points, including 3 when holding the ball after Siakam’s free throw. OG Anunoby scored 15 points and made a save that led to VanVleet’s 3-pointer.
A career night of Pascal Siakam:
52 PTS (highest in career)
9 REB
7 ASTThe Raptors won the MSG. pic.twitter.com/j4pOldXvzX
– NBA (@NBA) December 22, 2022
Julius Randle and RJ Barrett each scored 30 points for the Knicks, whose eight-game winning streak is the longest running streak in the NBA. It was New York’s longest winning streak since a nine-game streak from April 9-24, 2021.
Randle finished with 13 bounces while Immanuel Quickley had 20 and Mitchell Robinson added 10.
Siakam scored nine points to give the Raptors a 28-27 lead after the first half. He then scored 17 points in the second half, when Toronto took a 14-point lead and a 63–53 lead after halftime.
The Knicks opened the third half with a score of 13-2, in which Quickley destroyed a 3-point trio, including a dunk that gave the home team a 66-65 lead. Siakam then scored all of the Raptors’ points in the final 17-8 to give Toronto an 87-80 lead to advance into the fourth inning.
The Knicks scored the first five points of the fourth inning before the Raptors scored the next nine to make it 96-85. New York responded with a 17-5 run and a 102-101 lead after Barrett’s driving hit with the score remaining 3:21.
The asset exchange teams were empty and the Raptors missed a pair of 3 points before Siakam was fouled by Jalen Brunson. After taking both free throws, Anunoby saved Barrett’s shot. The Knicks are four points closer to VanVleet’s 3-pointer with 1:36 left.
Siakam broke the 50-point barrier by driving 3/4 of the deck and converted the old-fashioned 3-point play into Toronto’s final point with 15.9 seconds left.
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