Pascal Siakam scored 52 points, the highest of his career, in the victory of the Toronto Raptors against the New York Knicks at the legendary Madison Square Garden, where they broke a negative dynamic of six consecutive losses and in turn ended the winning streak of the New Yorkers (113-106).
The Cameroonian broke his previous personal record of 44 points, set three times previously, in addition to becoming the eighth player to exceed 50 points on the Knicks court and the first to reach that figure since James Harden he scored 61 points for the Houston Rockets on January 23, 2019.
Siakam scored nine points to help the Raptors take a 28-27 lead late in the first quarter. He then scored 17 points in the second quarter. After the break, in the third quarter, the African scored all the points for the Canadians in a 17-8 run that allowed the Raptors to reach the final game with an advantage (87-80). In the final quarter, Siakam made two decisive free throws in the final minutes and broke the 50-point barrier with 15 seconds left with a three-point play.
The power forward also grabbed nine rebounds and dished out seven assists. Fred VanVleet scored 28 points, including a game-winning 3-pointer, and O.G. Anunoby contributed 15 points. The Spanish Juancho Hernangómez started as the starter and scored four points in the 27 minutes he was on the track.
For their part, Julius Randle and RJ Barrett scored 30 points each for the Knicks, but they could not prevent the streak of eight consecutive victories from ending, until this Wednesday the longest this NBA season and the longest of the NBA season. New Yorkers since last year.
