The Toronto Raptors made history in the first and second quarters of their 139-87 Sunday rout of the Orlando Magic and they didn't really know or care about it as it happened.
Orlando led by as many as seven points, but then the Raptors reeled off a 31-0 run, holding the Magic scoreless for seven minutes and 48 seconds in a span that stretched from the first to the second quarter. That 31-0 stretch was the largest unanswered scoring run by a team in the 30 seasons that the NBA has tracked play-by-play data.
Scottie Barnes, playing out of his natural position as a power forward and acting as Toronto's point guard, had his 28th double-double of the season with 23 points and a career-high 15 assists. He was instrumental in the dominant 7:48 span but said he was just feeling the flow of the moment.
"I didn't know that that was even happening," said Barnes. "I just know we were all just super locked in, just trying to keep causing turnovers and keep playing as hard as we can on defence that it just helped the lead grow for us."
The previous record for longest scoring run was when the Dallas Mavericks reeled off a 30-0 span against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Dec. 2, 2023. AJ Lawson of Brampton, Ont., currently on a two-way contract, shuttling between Toronto and the G League's Raptors 905, played in Dallas's 30-0 and Toronto's 31-0 run.
Backup centre Sandro Mamukelashvili added 19 off the bench. His first substitution helped kick-start Toronto's historic run and he finished with a game-high plus-47 defensive rating.
"I think it was so fun playing that you just don't realize anything like (the run). You just keep going," said Mamukelashvili. "I feel like everybody enjoyed it.
"We were so physical. We were trying to like, trap and hit and just to do some stuff we usually do during practices. So it was just a really fun game."
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It was a critical win for a Raptors team trying to skip the play-in tournament with eight games left in their regular season.
Toronto (42-32) was fifth in the Eastern Conference, half a game up on the Atlanta Hawks (42-33), who held the final playoff spot after Sunday's games. Orlando (39-35) was eighth in the conference, holding the second play-in spot 2 1/2 games behind the Raptors.
"I know we need every game," said Barnes. "So then we are pretty constantly checking (the standings).
"We know we need every game, and every game we've got to bring it."
The Raptors are guaranteed to play at least one game once the regular season is over thanks to the Milwaukee Bucks' 127-95 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday. That eliminated Milwaukee from the post-season and ensured that Toronto would reach either the play-in tournament or the playoffs.
Mamukelashvili said he'd be lying if he said he doesn't check the standings.
"I think everybody goes home and checks it. We're right there," he said. "We fought throughout the whole year to get ourselves in a good position. We slipped up, we came back.
"Now everything's so stacked, the margin of error is so small, and I feel like you’ve got to be aware of it."
