A strong collective performance helped the Toronto Raptors to a convincing 139-109 victory at home against the Atlanta Hawks on Monday.
Six players from the Queen City squad have amassed at least 10 points. Paskal Siakam continued his strong start to the season by leading Toronto’s offense with 31 points and 12 rebounds. He was followed by Scottie Barnes and Gary Trent Jr who both finished with 21 points.
In an interview with the Sportnet network after the meeting, Siakam had good words for his teammates.
“At the end of the day, if we still play the way we are capable of, I believe we still have a chance to win the game,” Siakam said. […] We play well defensively, which explains our success. I believe guys like OG [Anunoby]Scottie [Barnes]Chris [Boucher]Christian [Koloko] were very active and they had energy defensively.”
“The season is long,” he continued. We have to keep working on our chemistry together. If we continue to play as a team this way and having fun like this, I think our team will be able to really achieve good things.
The Pacers can’t come back
Victims of a very poor start to the game, the Indiana Pacers lost 116 to 109 against the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night at Barclays Center.
The crowd favorites started the game strong and put up 33 points in the first quarter. Dominated, the team of Quebecer Bennedict Mathurin settled for 18 points in the first 15 minutes of the game.
The Pacers have tied or surpassed their rivals’ tallies in all subsequent quarters, but it wasn’t enough to win.
In the loss, Mathurin had 16 points, two rebounds and one assist. The Montreal native was used for 22 minutes by his coach. It was Chris Duarte who led the charge for the Indiana team, he who drove in 30 points.
Kevin Durant meanwhile had a great night at work with the Nets. The star player finished his matchup with 36 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.
It was just the second win in seven outings for the Brooklyn club in 2022-23. The Nets have also ended a series of four losses and will try to continue their momentum by beating the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday.
For their part, the Pacers have an appointment with the Miami Heat on Friday.