- The pivot shines with 30 points and a decisive shot for the Toronto victory
- Ricky Rubio stands out with 11 assists in the defeat of the Suns
The great performance of the Spanish-Congolese pivot Serge Ibaka (30 points), crowned with the decisive triple that culminated the comeback, has allowed Toronto Raptors to prevail over Indiana Pacers (119-118) and add their twelfth straight victory, the best streak in The history of the franchise, while Phoenix Suns have fallen in Detroit (116-108) with a generous Ricky Rubio.
The Raptors have not lost since January 13, when they were overtaken by San Antonio Spurs, and for the third time in their history they had 11 consecutive victories. That figure seemed to be his barrier to the Pacers again, but they turned the score dramatically in the last minutes to reach 12.
In fact, the Pacers, who came to win by 19 points in the third quarter, retained an income of 11 in the absence of 3:32 (103-114) for the final thanks to Malcolm Brogdon (24), Justin Holiday (22) and the 'triple-double' of Domantas Sabonis (15, 11 rebounds and 10 assists).
The Canadian team had faith to protect the streak and applied especially in defense, accumulating theft of the ball and closing the rebound to gradually reduce its disadvantage. In the absence of 30 seconds, Ibaka (13/21 in shots) scored the triple that turned the score (119-118) after an assist from Kyle Lowry, the other local bulwark with 32 points.
In the final seconds, the visitor Victor Oladipo had a triple to give the victory to the Pacers, but his launch failed and the Pacers, despite catching the rebound in attack, could not return to throw to basket thanks to the numantine defense of the Raptors, who celebrated the victory as if it were time for 'playoffs'.
On the other hand, Ricky Rubio contributed 4 points and 11 assists in the Little Caesars Arena, where the Suns conceded their fourth consecutive defeat against Pistons who always controlled the match by Andre Drummond (31 points, 19 rebounds). Kelly Oubre (30) and Deandre Ayton (26 and 12) could not avoid another stumble from the Arizona franchise, which continues to lose ground in the Western Conference.