By Canadian Press

Siakam has 33 points, Lowry records a double-double in Raptors’ rout of Cavs

Dec 16, 2019 | 8:45 PM

TORONTO — Pascal Siakam had 33 points, while Norman Powell added 26 and the Toronto Raptors cruised by the Cleveland Cavaliers 133-113 on Monday.

Kyle Lowry notched the 110th double-double of his career with 20 points and 11 assists, pulling into a tie with Antonio Davis for third on the Raptors’ all-time list.  

Serge Ibaka added 14 points, while OG Anunoby chipped in with 12 for the Raptors (18-8), who were playing without injured guard Fred VanVleet for the fourth consecutive night.

Collin Sexton had 25 points to top the Cavaliers (6-21), who’ve won just once in 11 games. Tristan Thompson of Brampton, Ont., finished with 18 points and eight rebounds.

The Cleveland squad that dispatched Toronto in ugly fashion in three consecutive post-seasons used to be an exciting draw in Toronto. But with their former star LeBron James now in Los Angeles, the Cavs are one of the worst teams in the league, third-last in defence, and fourth-last on the offensive end.

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The Raptors had their way with the Cavs on Monday. They assembled an 18-point lead in the first half and stretched it to 104-84 by the end of the third quarter, thanks in large part to Powell.

The guard, who has struggled with inconsistency but has been solid of late, had 16 points in the quarter, including an alley-oop dunk from Siakam with 2:15 to play. Powell had to stretch behind his head for the one-handed dunk, entertaining the capacity Scotiabank Arena crowd of 19,800 on what could have been a humdrum evening. It was the first time this season Powell has scored 20-plus points in back-to-back games. 

Darius Garland’s three-pointer sliced Toronto’s lead to 11 with 4:32 to play, but that was as close as the visitors would come.

Lowry had a double-double only to see the officials erase one of his assists. He finally got his 10th assist with a pass to Ibaka for a jump shot with 2:24 to play. Chris Bosh leads the all-time Raptors list for double-doubles with 239, followed by Jonas Valanciunas (137).

Toronto trailed for just the first minute Monday, and when Anunoby scooped up the ball from a Powell block and launched a long pass to a sprinting Siakam, who finished with an easy basket, it put Toronto up by 10. The Raptors stretched it to 18 points on a Patrick McCaw three-pointer, but the Cavs closed the quarter with a 10-0 run and Toronto led 37-29 heading into the second.

The Raptors maintained a double-digit lead in the second. Midway through the quarter, Gasol grabbed one of Cleveland’s turnovers, found McCaw heading toward the hoop with Jordan Clarkson in hot pursuit. McCaw flicked a backwards bounce pass to Powell for an easy dunk. The Raptors went into the third with a 66-54.

The Raptors visit Detroit on Wednesday then return home to host Washington on Friday then Dallas on Sunday.  

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 16, 2019.

Lori Ewing, The Canadian Press