By Canadian Press

Siakim, Raptors bounce back with convincing 118-95 win over Celtics

Feb 26, 2019 | 9:48 PM

TORONTO — Pascal Siakam had 25 points and Kawhi Leonard continued his dominance against Boston with 21 points, helping the Toronto Raptors beat the Celtics 118-95 on Tuesday.

Serge Ibaka had 14 points for the Raptors (45-17), who rebounded nicely after having their seven-game win streak snapped with a loss to the Orlando Magic on Sunday. Norm Powell had 11 points off the bench and Kyle Lowry had 11 assists to go along with seven points.

Siakam was 4 for 5 from three-point range to help the Raptors finish the month of February at 8-1.

Marcus Morris led Boston (37-24) with 17 points.

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Toronto held Celtics star Kyrie Irving, usually a thorn in the Raptors side, to just seven points. 

The Raptors, who have won eight straight home games against Boston, evened the season series at two games apiece. Toronto hasn’t dropped a season series to the Celtics since 2012-13.

Leonard, back in the starting lineup after missing Sunday’s loss, came into the game having scored 95 points against Boston this season, more than any other player against the same team.

Leonard had scored at least 25 points in his last five games against the Celtics dating back to the 2016-17 season.

Jayson Tatum and Terry Rozier had 11 points apiece for the Celtics and Jaylen Brown had 10.

Tuesday’s game marked the Raptors’ last of the regular season against a top-five team in the Eastern Conference. Toronto entered play in second place in the East, 2 1/2 games back of Milwaukee.

A 27-foot three-pointer from OG Anunoby gave the Raptors their largest lead of the night at 29 points, 100-71, a minute into the fourth quarter.

Toronto continued its offensive attack throughout the final 12 minutes, with most of its stars watching from the bench. A slam dunk from Canadian Chris Boucher put the Raptors up 118-92 in the final minute.

The Raptors took a 95-68 lead into the fourth quarter.

Boston began the third on a 7-2 run but Toronto replied with a 12-2 run of its own, punctuated by a Siakam steal and dunk, to give the Raptors an 88-64 edge. Siakam took the ball off a bad pass from Morris and went coast to coast before easily drilling the basket.

The Raptors trailed 32-30 after the first quarter but stormed back for a 66-45 lead at the half.

Toronto opened the second quarter on a 15-2 run, capitalizing on some Celtics turnovers, to go up 48-34. A pair of emphatic dunks from Leonard, with the latter coming after another Boston turnover, extended Toronto’s lead to 20 points at 59-39 three minutes before halftime.

Siakam led all players with 11 points in the opening 12 minutes.

Jodie Meeks, coming off a 10-point outing in his Raptors debut Sunday against Orlando, came into the game late and finished with five points in seven minutes.

NOTES: Toronto has a couple days off before hosting the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night. The Raptors have won 15 of their last 17 games at Scotiabank Arena. … The Celtics host Portland on Wednesday.

Melissa Couto, The Canadian Press