After being held in check in their last two games, the Toronto Raptors found their way back to victory Friday night at the Toyota Center with a 117-111 win over the Houston Rockets.
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Led on offense by Fred VanVleet (32 points) and Gary Trent Fils (28 points), the Torontonians scored 55 points in the first half against the worst team in the NBA Western Conference.
The Texas team never gave up and recorded 39 points in the fourth quarter. The Rockets, however, were unable to complete their comeback.
Houston was without one of its best players in the game, guard Jalen Green, who suffered a calf injury.
With this victory, the Queen City team is one game away from the Indiana Pacers and 12th in the Eastern standings.
Nick Nurse’s proteges will conclude their seven-game road trip on Sunday by traveling to Tennessee to face the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Pacers got hot
The Pacers and Sacramento Kings battled it out at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, and the Indiana team ultimately came out on top 107-104.
Lithuanian Domantas Sabonis was playing a first game against his former Pacers teammates. He was traded from the Pacers to the Kings for Tyrese Haliburton on February 9, 2022. Before the game, the Indiana organization paid tribute to the man who wore the Pacers’ uniform for five seasons, from 2017 to 2022.
Quebecer Bennedict Mathurin recovered well from his underperformance of five points the day before. The 20-year-old had 14 points and four rebounds in 28 minutes on the floor.
Free-for-all in Minneapolis
At Target Center, the Orlando Magic beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 127-120, but it wasn’t the result of the game that caught the eye.
Late in the third quarter, a free-for-all broke out near the visitors’ bench.
After seeing two Magic players mocking his failed attempt from downtown, fullback Austin Rivers landed several punches at Mo Bamba.
Youngster Jalen Suggs came to the latter’s defense by knocking Rivers to the ground, drawing the ire of ‘T-Wolves’ fans.
At the end of this scuffle, five players were expelled from the meeting. Bamba and Suggs were forced out of the game at the Magic side, while Rivers, Jaden McDaniels and Taurean Prince suffered the same fate at the hosts.