CHARLOTTE, N.C.(AP) – the Toronto Raptors keep rolling and the Charlotte Hornets keep moving.
Pascal Siakam had 24 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists, and the Raptors smack the Hornets 116-101 on Monday night for their sixth straight win.
Gary Trent Jr. scored 24 points, and Fred VanVleet and OG Anunoby scored 20 points apiece for the Raptors, who started a stretch of eight of nine road games with a convincing win. Scottie Barnes added 15 points as Raptors pitchers accounted for all but 13 points.
Siakam, the NBA Eastern Conference player of the Week, set the tone in the first half, shooting 6 of 9 from the floor for 14 points with six rebounds and five assists as the Raptors opened a 23-point lead.
“It’s been a tough few years, but I feel healthy now,” Siakam said. “My shoulder feels better, my body feels good. So only be bodily and mentally in a good place.”
Miles Bridges scored 25 points to lead the Hornets, who lost their fifth straight game. Charlotte weathered another poor offensive performance, shooting 41.1 percent from the field and 22.5 percent out of 3-point range.
LaMelo Ball, named an All-Star Game replacement a few hours before the game, finished with 15 points and nine assists for the Hornets.
Charlotte (28-27) fought back to cut the lead to three in the third quarter after Terry Rozier, who scored 20 points, and P.J. gave Washington a boost. But the hornets lacked firepower when their poor outside shooting caught up with them.
“We’ve just got to start finding that rhythm offensively,” Hornets coach James Borrego said. “The 3-Ball is obviously dried out, but it’s good. It will come back to us. Until then, we have to find our Offense through our defense.”
The win lifted the Raptors (29-23) into sixth place in the Eastern Conference, ahead of the Brooklyn Nets, who have lost eight in a row.
Siakam is an important reason for the rise of the Raptors.
He said he enjoyed playing Point Guard because it gave him a different understanding of the game and also helped him develop a rhythm. And recently he brought back what coach Nick Nurse called his “Signature spin move”.”
“For a while it seemed like it was no longer a step for him,” the nurse said. “I think a lot of things now have to do with mentality, energy and distance on the pitch.”
That included one in the second quarter, when Siakam pulled Bridges off the dribble and ended up at the basket at lightning speed for an easy, uncontested score.
“There are games where I know the Spin-Move will be there, and some games won’t be,” siakam said.
Charlotte struggled with the Raptors’ length and turned the ball over nine times in the first half, which led to 14 Toronto points.
HAYWARD HAS AN ANKLE health-issue
The Hornets, wounds without Cody Martin and James Bouknight, lost Gordon Hayward for the game after spraining his left ankle in the first quarter.
Hayward has been in trouble since not found six games in the recent time protocols and made only 3 of 23 shots from the field. But coach James Borrego was counting on him to help a young team come out of a burglary.
STATUS OF BOUKNIGHT
Bouknight was presented with a sprained wrist just two days after getting up and confronting Borrego on the bench — and was then accompanied into the dressing room by an assistant coach. Borrego played down the incident before the match
saying that “we are in a good place with Bouknight”.
MORE POINTS
Toronto entered the game averaging 118 points during their five-game winning streak, and didn’t miss a smack against the Hornets. It was the 10th straight game in which the Raptors have scored at least 100 points.
ADVICE
Raptors: shot 42.9% (15 of 35) From 3-point range. … Made just 19 of 29 free throws.
Hornets: Outscored the Raptors 58-48 in overtime. … Kelly Oubre was 0 for 8 from beyond the arc, but had 17 points. … Fell to 0-3 on Four-game homestand.