VanVleet tops 30 for 9th time, Raptors beat Pistons 119-118

TORONTO — — Fred VanVleet scored 35 points, topping 30 for a career-best ninth time this season, and Pascal Siakam added 28 points as the Toronto Raptors beat the Detroit Pistons 119-118 Sunday for their fourth win in five games.

Scottie Barnes scored 20 points and Precious Achiuwa had 11 points and 11 rebounds as Toronto won its second straight win over Detroit after losing the previous six meetings.

Toronto is 20-7 all-time when VanVleet scores 30 or more points.

Bojan Bogdanovic scored 33 points, Alec Burks had 21, and Hamidou Diallo and Jaden Ivey each had 18 for the Pistons. Detroit failed once again to win consecutive games for the second time this season.

Ivey’s 3-pointer with 10.1 seconds left in the fourth quarter cut it to 116-113 before VanVleet answered with a pair of free throws.

Bogdanovic hit two free throws, but Achiuwa made one of two at the line to put Toronto up by four points with 4.4 seconds left. Ivey’s 3 at the buzzer wasn’t enough for the Pistons.

Detroit beat San Antonio in double overtime Friday in a matchup of two of the NBA’s worst teams. The Pistons haven’t won back-to-back games since victories at Denver and Utah on Nov. 22 and 23, following all 10 wins since with defeats.

Detroit center Jalen Duren injured his right ankle in the second quarter, but returned to start the second half. The rookie teenager scored a career-high 30 points Friday. The 19-year-old Duren finished with six points in 21 minutes.

With head coach Nick Nurse away from the team for personal reasons, assistant coach Adrian Griffin took charge of the Raptors on Sunday.

Toronto scored 14 points off 18 Detroit turnovers. The Raptors allowed a season-low five points off their eight turnovers.

Raptors center Jakob Poeltl started for the first time in two games since rejoining the team that drafted him. He took the spot of guard Gary Trent Jr., who sat because of a sore left calf.

VanVleet scored 16 points in the opening quarter, but Burks scored 11 as Detroit closed with an 18-8 spurt to cut a 12-point deficit to two, 31-29.

Detroit took its first lead of the game, 48-47, on Isaiah Stewart’s layup with 2:44 to play in the second quarter, but Siakam’s free throw with two seconds left in the half gave Toronto a 53-52 edge at the break.

Siakam scored 11 points in the third, and VanVleet added nine as Toronto took an 85-77 lead to the fourth.

TIP-INS

Pistons: Stewart scored 16 points.. … Outscored Toronto 43-19 in bench points. … Detroit is 7-22 on the road, the worst mark in the Eastern Conference.

Raptors: VanVleet had eight 30-point games in 2021-22. … Poeltl fouled out in the fourth. He finished with six points and five rebounds in 25 minutes. … F O.G. Anunoby (sprained left wrist) missed his eighth straight game…. Toronto signed G/F Joe Wieskamp to a multi-year contract Saturday.

UP NEXT

Pistons: Visit Boston on Wednesday.

Raptors: Host Orlando on Tuesday.

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