Toronto Raptors lean heavily on vets in win over New Orleans

Season-high six wins in a row for Toronto

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Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam have taken turns carrying the Raptors to come-from-behind wins.

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But Sunday night both were needed to extend the Raptors’ win streak to a season-longest six with a 105-101 win over the visiting New Orleans Pelicans.

Siakam, who had 33 in the 117-111 win over Milwaukee and is expanding his impact in games with an enhanced focus on rebounding in addition to the scoring and facilitating he has always done, had 29 points, 10 boards and seven assists.

VanVleet was coming off that stunning third quarter of 24 points in a 37-point night in the come-from-behind win over Utah. Against the Pelicans, VanVleet had 32 including two huge threes in the final minute and a half to hold off a pressing New Orleans club.

Credit the Pelicans, who have been without Zion Williamson and were missing another key contributor in Josh Hart, for the battle. The Raptors appeared to be set to pull away from them on at least a half-dozen occasions in the game but each time the Pelicans reeled them back in.

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The Raptors were without starting guard Gary Trent Jr., who had some swelling in his left ankle and his absence was obvious throughout as the Raptors were on the wrong end of a handful of Pelicans runs of eight points or more.

They were the kind of runs a guy like Trent Jr., with his ability to create his own shot, might have cut by himself.

Jonas Valanciunas made his return to the Scotiabank Arena court for the first time since Dec. 9, 2018 after being traded to Memphis in the Marc Gasol deal.

Valanciunas was a real focus of the Raptors attention Sunday night as pretty much on the catch, a second defender was on his way to help.

The Raptors did a solid job on him but Valanciunas, who is among the league leaders in double-doubles, had another, pulling down 17 boards and contributing 20 points.

The other guy the Raptors were hyper-aware of was Brandon Ingram and on him the results were a little bit better as Ingram, who had 31 in the Pelicans’ previous win over Golden State, settled for just 22 against Toronto.

The Raptors will now have a day to get ready for the Western Conference-leading Phoenix Suns, who pay Toronto a visit on Tuesday.

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