Balanced attack helps Raptors rout Knicks 113-88

Jonas Valanciunas had 18 points and 10 rebounds and Serge Ibaka added 13points and eight rebounds to lead seven Toronto Raptors in doublefigures in a 113-88 win over the visiting New York Knicks on Thursdaynight at Air Canada Centre.Michael Beasley had 21 points to lead the Knicks, who lost for the fifthstraight game to fall a season-worst 10 games under .500 (23-33). Noother New York player had more than Trey Burke’s 12 points in theKnicks’ first game without leading-scorer Kristaps Porzingis, who waslost for the season with a torn ACL in Tuesday’s loss to Milwaukee.Toronto’s bench dominated New York’s, as five Raptor reserves scored indouble figures, led by Pascal Siakam’s 14 points. Jakob Poeltl had 13points and Delon Wright and CJ Miles each added 11 for Toronto, whichmoved to 23-4 at home. Toronto has won four straight games and six ofseven.With Porzingis and Enes Kanter (mouth) out, the Knicks had no answer forthe Raptors inside. Toronto outrebounded New York 52-43 and held theKnicks to 40 percent shooting, including 26 percent from 3-point range.Aside from Beasley, New York’s other four starters – Tim Hardaway Jr.,Kyle O’Quinn, Jarrett Jack and Courtney Lee – combined for 13-of-37shooting.The Knicks kept it close early, trailing 17-16 late in the firstquarter, but the Raptors took an 11-point lead midway through the secondquarter and went into the halftime break up 52-41. Toronto extended thelead in the third and fourth quarters, outscoring the Knicks in thesecond half, 61-47.New York heads to Indiana tomorrow for a matchup with the Pacers, whilethe Raptors head on the road tomorrow for the first time after a 4-0homestand with a matinee tilt at Charlotte. The Knicks are currently on a2-8 stretch that has them 5 1/2 games out of the eighth seed in theEastern Conference playoff race.Celtics in overtimeThe Boston Celtics maintained a one-game advantage over Toronto atop theEast with a 110-104 overtime victory over the Wizards in Washington.Kyrie Irving scored 13 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter andovertime as the Celtics bounced back from a loss to the Raptors onTuesday.Trailing at halftime, they emerged from a tight third quarter with afive-point lead and stretched it to as many as 10 in the fourth. Butthey needed three clutch free throws from Irving, who was fouled on athree-point attempt and made all the foul shots to knot the score at98-98 with 9.8 seconds left in regulation.It went to overtime when Bradley Beal’s tough jump shot contested byIrving at the buzzer missed. Jaylen Brown scored five of his 18 pointsfor Boston in overtime, when the Celtics out-scored the Wizards 12-6 tofinally put the game away.His three-pointer with 1:43 remaining put the Celtics up 108-103, andthe Wizards wouldn’t get the deficit below four points from there.“The shot clock was going down so I took my time and shot a shot thatI’ve been practising,” Brown said of the step-back three. “I’ve beenworking on it a lot, and it showed itself in the game.”The Portland Trail Blazers won in overtime, too, stretching their homewinning streak to nine games with a 109-103 triumph over the CharlotteHornets. It was close in Orlando, where Evan Fournier’s 22 points ledthe Magic in a 100-98 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.The Magic were also boosted by 18 points and nine assists from pointguard D.J. Augustin – newly arrived from Phoenix in a trade-deadlinedeal.The Los Angeles Lakers, still awaiting the arrival of theirtrade-deadline acquisitions from Cleveland Isaiah Thomas and ChanningFrye, defeated the under-manned Oklahoma City Thunder 106-81.It was their second win in five days over the Thunder – who were withoutinjured Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony. Kentavious Caldwell-Popescored 20 points, leading five Lakers in double figures. Paul Georgescored 29 points for Oklahoma City.Lakers coach Luke Walton was pleased to see his young team dig inagainst the Thunder on a day when many were unsettled by the departureof Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr. in the deal with Cleveland.Walton noted that it was the first time some of the Lakers had teammatesshipped out suddenly. “It was pretty quiet in the film room,” he said.“I didn’t know how long it would take, but the energy before the gamewas already better.”