Siakam hits buzzer-beater to lift Raptors over Suns

 

 

LOS ANGELES, USA – Pascal Siakam banked in the winning shot at the final buzzer as the Toronto Raptors won their eighth consecutive home game with a 111-109 victory over the Phoenix Suns in the NBA on Thursday, January 17 (Friday, January 18, Manila time).

Siakam’s basket, which was upheld by a video review, bounced off the backboard and went in after Suns’ Mikal Bridges had tied it 109-109 with 13 seconds to go. 

“To be honest I didn’t know what I was going to do. I just wanted to take the last shot, whatever shot that was,” Siakam said. 

“We came out early and had lead and let them get back in the game. We knew they were going to fight. We just had to make the big plays and we did.”

Siakam finished with 10 points and 12 rebounds, Serge Ibaka scored 22 points and Kyle Lowry had 16 points and 9 rebounds for the Raptors, who have won 6 of their last 7 contests.

“We call him P-Skills for a reason,” said CJ Miles. “He’s got a lot of skills. There’s a lot of things he can do with the basketball.”

Pascal Siakam attacks and flips in the #TissotBuzzerBeater to win it for the @Raptors! #ThisIsYourTime #WeTheNorth pic.twitter.com/EyCOLXhBO2

— NBA (@NBA) January 18, 2019

 

Toronto coach Nick Nurse wasn’t please that his team squandered a 16-point lead but he was happy with the way Siakam closed it out. “He made a great move and finished it off.”

Miles returned from missing a couple of games with a hip problem to score 13 points and Fred VanVleet finished with 15 in the win.

Phoenix’s Devin Booker scored 30 points, Deandre Ayton had 15 points and 17 rebounds, and Kelly Oubre scored 18 in the loss as the Raptors swept a back-to-back season series against the Suns for the first time.

Toronto played without star Kawhi Leonard who was rested.

The Raptors lead 32-20 at the end of the 1st quarter, shooting 4-of-9 from three-point range. Phoenix also fell behind 57-49 at the half.

Pascal Siakam reflects on his big bucket in the final moments! #WeTheNorth pic.twitter.com/TZygqODRP8

— NBA (@NBA) January 18, 2019

 

Lowry, 32, came into the game needing 6 assists to reach 5,000 for his career. He got it in the 4th quarter dishing to Ibaka for a bucket.

“I would have never thought I would have gotten there at the start of my career,” said Lowry. “I’ll look back on this when I retire.”

In London, England, Bradley Beal scored 26 points as the Washington Wizards rallied from a 16-point deficit to defeat the New York Knicks 101-100 in front of a crowd of 19,000 at O2 Arena.

Allonzo Trier was called for goaltending on a layup attempt by Thomas Bryant with 0.4 seconds remaining, giving the Wizards the win. – Rappler.com