Raptors rip Warriors by 53 points

Pascal Siakam celebrated his 27th birthday by scoring a season-high 36 points as the Toronto Raptors won their most lopsided game in franchise history with a 130-77 rout of the Golden State Warriors on Friday.

The Raptors won by 53 points and led at one point by 61 as they handed the short-handed Warriors their third worst loss ever and the sixth defeat in their last seven contests.

”You saw it,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “We just got destroyed. Not a whole lot to be said. Humiliating for everybody involved.”

The Raptors have been having problems of their own, winning for just the second time in the past 15 games and snapping a four-game losing streak.

”Losing is not fun, and anything that lifts us out of that is good,” said Siakam.

With Stephen Curry and Draymond Green sitting out, the hapless Warriors looked out of sorts. Curry was ruled out hours before tipoff with a bruised tailbone and Green was scratched with a sprained finger. Curry missed five games earlier before returning for the last two games.

”I just think the game went south on us quickly and we got demoralized,” Kerr said.

”I think without Steph and Draymond out there I think we were a little bit rudderless when things went south. We didn’t have the internal fight that we needed to kind of get over the hump.”

The Raptors outscored the Warriors by 51 points in the second and third quarters, the largest point differential over a two-quarter span within a game in NBA history. Golden State also became the fourth team in the last 25 seasons to trail by at least 60 points in a game.

Turnovers have been an issue for Golden State this season as they committed 21, leading to 30 Raptor points.

”As a coach, you try to navigate the season with your team as best you can,” Kerr said. “So there’s times for humour, there’s times for joy, there’s times for serious discussion and soul searching. This is a time for soul searching for sure.”