Pascal Siakam scored a post-season career-high 30 points and had 11 rebounds as Toronto Raptors seized a 2-1 lead in the first round playoff series with a 98-93 win on Friday.
“He's unbelievable,” Raptors guard Kyle Lowry said of Siakam. “He's the most improved player in the NBA this year and he's only going to get better.”
Kawhi Leonard added 16 points and 10 rebounds while Danny Green scored 13 and Lowry had 12 for Raptors, who guarded Orlando's Nikola Vucevic closely for the second straight game.
Vucevic scored 22 points and nabbed 14 rebounds for Magic. Terrence Ross finished with a team-high 24 points, Jonathan Isaac scored 14, and Aaron Gordon had 10. Game four in the best-of-seven series is on Sunday in Orlando.
Siakam was 13 for 20 from the floor and Raptors held Orlando to 36 percent shooting. “It's just taking what a defense gives us and going with it,” Siakam said.
Lowry nailed a three-pointer with just under eight minutes to go in the fourth to give Raptors a 17-point lead, their biggest of the game.
Elsewhere, Boston Celtics withstood a late surge to post a 104-96 victory over Indiana Pacers to take a stranglehold 3-0 lead in their Eastern Conference series.
Kyrie Irving helped Celtics close it out by scoring 11 of their final 16 points. Boston gets a chance to close out Pacers in Indiana on Sunday.
Jaylen Brown had 23 points to lead Celtics, who held Pacers under 100 points for the third straight game.
Irving finished with 19 points and 10 assists while Jayson Tatum added 18 points, Al Horford had 16 and Marcus Morris 11 in the win.
Tyreke Evans led seven Pacers in double figures with 19 points off the bench. Bojan Bogdanovic had 15 points.
Also, Russell Westbrook scored 33 points as Oklahoma City Thunder beat the visiting Portland Trail Blazers 120-108 to take game three of a Western Conference series.
The results: Toronto Raptors 98 (Pascal Siakam 30) bt Orlando Magic 93 (Nikola Vucevic 22, Terrence Ross 24). Raptors lead 2-1 .
Boston Celtics 104 (Jaylen Brown 23) bt Indiana Pacers 96. Celtics lead 3-0 .
Oklahoma City Thunder 120 (Paul George 22, Russell Westbrook 33) bt Portland Trail Blazers 108 (Damien Lillard 32, C.J. McCollum 21). Trail Blazers lead 2-1 .
