Siakam scores 37, Raptors hand Spurs 10th straight loss

TORONTO (AP)— Pascal Siakam had 37 points and 10 rebounds, Fred VanVleet scored16 points and the Toronto Raptors beat San Antonio 112-98 onWednesday night, handing the struggling Spurs their 10thconsecutive loss.

Chris Boucherhad 18 points and 11 rebounds off the bench in Toronto’s thirdstraight win.

Gary TrentJr. scored 15 points, and Scottie Barnes and Precious Achiuwa eachscored 10 for the Raptors, who have won the past five meetings withthe Spurs.

Siakam ledToronto with seven assists and shot 15 for 21, connecting on hisfirst eight attempts. He went 3 for 3 from 3-point range and shot 4of 5 at the foul line.

“He justlooked assertive and aggressive from the jump,” VanVleet said.“That’s what we need from him. He was great for us tonight. Hecarried us.”

Boucher ledToronto with three blocked shots and also had three steals.

“He wasreally a force out there,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said.

KeldonJohnson scored 22 points, Josh Richardson had 14 and Doug McDermott13 for San Antonio, which has not won since Jan. 17 againstBrooklyn. Former Raptor Jakob Poeltl scored 12 points and KeitaBates-Diop had 10.

It’s thesecond time this season the Spurs have lost at least 10 straight.They had a season-worst 11-game slump between Nov. 14 and Dec.4.

San Antoniomade 16 turnovers, leading to 22 points for Toronto. The Spurs made18 turnovers in Monday’s loss at Chicago.

“When youturn it over against Toronto, it’s like a bucket at the other endwith their speed and their athleticism,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovichsaid. “They got too many points off our turnovers, but that’s howthey play. That’s one of their strengths.”

Poeltl, whowas close friends with Siakam when they both played in Toronto,said his old pal did a good job of picking his spots against theSpurs.

“He madetough shots tonight,” Poeltl said. “I felt like at times we playedreally good defense on him, he just made better shots. Hats off tohim.”

Siakam shot 7for 7 and scored 18 points in the first quarter, his season highfor any quarter, as Toronto led 34-24 after one.

San Antoniorallied in the second, but the Raptors held a 57-54 lead at thehalf.

Siakam scorednine points in the third, and VanVleet and Trent each had six, asToronto took an 88-75 edge to the fourth.

TIP-INS

Spurs: FJeremy Sochan (sore lower back) and G Tre Jones (sore left foot)each sat for the third consecutive game. ... San Antonio is 5-20 onthe road.

Raptors:Siakam had seven rebounds in the first quarter. ... Barnes had ninerebounds. ... F O.G. Anunoby (sprained left wrist) missed his sixthstraight game. ... Toronto played at home for the first time sincea Jan. 22 win over the Knicks. The Raptors went 4-3 on aseason-high seven-game road trip in between.

TRADING PLACES?

With the NBAtrade deadline set for 3 p.m. ET Thursday, VanVleet said he expectsthe Raptors (26-30) to be fielding calls from contending teams.

“We’ve got alot of good players on a team that’s not winning,” Vanleet said.“That’s pretty much it. We haven’t played up to our standard thisyear, so we put ourselves in this position. Now we’ve got to dealwith it. We understand there’s going to be probably every team inthe league calling. We’ve got a lot of guys that a lot of teamswould want, and we’re not in a great situation.”

UNHAPPY NEW YEAR

After going2-13 in January, the Spurs have started 0-4 in February.