Kawhi Leonard was so good on Tuesday night, Raptors coach Nick Nurse just wanted to enjoy the show.
Leonard scored a career-high 45 points and Pascal Siakam had a career-best 28 points with 10 rebounds as Toronto beat the Utah Jazz 122-116.
“That’s good we all got to witness that live and in person,” Nurse said of Leonard’s outburst. “He was phenomenal. I’ve kind of been waiting for one of these nights where he makes them all.”
Photo: Dan Hamilton-USA Today
Norman Powell scored a season-high 14 points as the Raptors won their fourth straight at home, despite playing without All-Star guard Kyle Lowry (sore back) and center Jonas Valanciunas (dislocated left thumb).
“The way he’s playing right now is really big for our team with a lot of guys out,” Powell said of Leonard.
Leonard shot 16 for 22 overall, missing all three attempts from three-point range, and went 13 for 17 at the free-throw line.
He said he was not aware of his scoring achievement until after the game.
“I try to stay in the moment and keep competing every possession and not worry about myself, just try to get a team win,” Leonard said.
It was the third 40-point game of Leonard’s career, including a 43-point effort against Memphis in Game 4 of the first round of the playoffs in April 2017.
Leonard has scored 20 or more points in a career-best 14 straight games.
Jae Crowder scored a career-high 30 points, Derrick Favors had 21 and Donovan Mitchell scored 19 as the Jazz dropped to 10-12 on the road and 18-20 overall.
“Jae was hot,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. “It’s unfortunate that we didn’t capitalize on the night that he had.”
Utah’s Rudy Gobert scored 16 points and Ricky Rubio had 14.
Leonard made all seven of his field-goal attempts in the third quarter and added five foul shots. His 19 points were the second-most in any quarter by a Raptors player this season.
“He scored in the post, he scored in isolations, he scored going to the rim over Rudy,” Snyder said. “Eventually we started hitting him when he walked across half-court. The biggest thing was we put him on the line.”
After making two three-pointers in the first half, the Raptors connected on their first three long-range shots of the third quarter, turning a two-point halftime deficit into a 12-point edge midway through the quarter.
Siakam went three for three from three-point range in the third and scored 13 points. Toronto outscored Utah 44-32 to take a 95-85 lead into the fourth.
Rubio started after sitting out Saturday’s win over New York because of a sore left knee and sore lower back, while Crowder was back after missing the victory over the Knicks because of a sore left thumb.
In other games on Tuesday, the Milwaukee Bucks overpowered the Detroit Pistons 121-98, the Denver Nuggets beat the New York Knicks 115-108, the Portland Trail Blazers edged the Sacramento Kings 113-108 and the Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 119-113.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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