NBA: Kawhi Leonard and Pascal Siakam lead Raptors past Bucks in battle between NBA’s top teams

Kawhi Leonard and Pascal Siakam each scored 30 points, with Siakam setting a career high, and the Toronto Raptors beat the Milwaukee Bucks 123-116 on Saturday night in a matchup of the top two teams in the NBA standings.

Serge Ibaka added 25 points and nine rebounds, Fred VanVleet had 21 points, and Danny Green 12 points and nine rebounds. The Raptors slowly took charge in the second and third quarters and withstood the Bucks’ comeback attempt in the fourth.

Giannis Antetokounmpo had 43 points and 18 rebounds for Milwaukee. Malcolm Brogdon added 15 points, and Khris Middleton and Eric Bledsoe each had 14. The Bucks had won five straight.

Milwaukee was coming off a 144-112 victory over Atlanta on Friday night, while Toronto had a day to rest following a 125-107 loss to the Spurs on Thursday night in Leonard’s return to San Antonio.

The Raptors put it away with a 15-2 run, taking a 110-98 lead on Siakam’s wide-open 3 from the corner with 5:14 to play.

Trailing by as much as 13, the Bucks opened the fourth quarter with a 14-4 run, capped by Antetokounmpo’s layup and 3-pointer, and led 96-95 with 8:12 left.

at Trail Blazers 110, Rockets 101: Jusuf Nurkic had 25 points and 15 rebounds, and the Portland Trail Blazers snapped James Harden’s 40-point streak and the Houston Rockets’ six-game winning streak with a victory on Saturday night.

Harden finished with 38 points, falling just short of his sixth straight game with 40 or more.

CJ McCollum added 24 points and Damian Lillard finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Blazers, who have won three of their last four games.

Austin Rivers scored a season-high 21 points while Clint Capela had 13 points and 21 rebounds.

Warriors 127, at Kings 123: Stephen Curry scored 20 of his 42 points in the fourth quarter and had 10 3-pointers, and the Golden State Warriors held on to beat the Sacramento Kings on Saturday night.

Kevin Durant added 29 points, nine assists and five rebounds, and Klay Thompson scored 20 points to help the Warriors complete a three-game sweep of the season series. The three games were decided by a total of 10 points.

Coming off a 135-134 overtime loss to Houston on Thursday night when they let a 20-point lead slip away, the Warriors blew another big lead in the third quarter before storming past the Kings over the final 12 minutes.

Curry led the way with five of his 3s in the fourth, and had a pair of key three-point plays. Curry also closed out the quarter with a pair of free throws with 9.4 seconds left.

Buddy Hield scored 32 points on a career-high eight 3s for Sacramento. The Kings set a franchise record with 20 3s.

at 76ers 106, Mavericks 100: Joel Embiid had 25 points and 12 rebounds, and Ben Simmons hadded 20 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists and Philadelphia beat Dallas.

Embiid hit two key free throws late for Philadelphia, which was without Jimmy Butler for the second straight game due to an upper respiratory infection. Philadelphia improved to 17-3 at home.

Wesley Matthews had 18 points for Dallas. The Mavericks are 3-18 on the road.

Jazz 110, at Pistons 105: Donovan Mitchell scored 24 of his 26 points in the second half, and Utah rallied from an 18-point, second-quarter deficit to beat Detroit.

The Jazz nearly squandered an 11-point lead of their own in the final quarter, allowing the Pistons to cut the lead to one on a 3-pointer by Blake Griffin. Ricky Rubio made two free throws for Utah with 12.3 seconds remaining, and Detroit turned the ball over on its next possession.

Griffin scored 34 points for the Pistons.

at Nuggets 123, Hornets 110: Nikola Jokic scored a season-high 39 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, reserve Paul Millsap added 18 and Western Conference-leading Denver beat Charlotte for its 10th straight home victory.

At 26-11, the Nuggets are off to their best NBA start in franchise history. This also marks the latest they’ve been in first place in the conference since March 16, 1977.

Jokic also had six assists, three steals and one blocked shot. He was 16 of 29 from the floor and 4 of 5 from the line. Kemba Walker had 20 points for the Hornets in the first game of a six-game.

at Spurs 108, Grizzlies 88: Derrick White scored 19 points, LaMarcus Aldridge added 18 and San Antonio overcame a sluggish start to beat Memphis, handing the Grizzlies their fifth straight loss.

San Antonio won for the 12th time in 15 games.

Mike Conley had 21 points in 25 minutes for Memphis.

Pelicans 133, at Cavaliers 98: Jrue Holiday and Julius Randle both scored 22 points and New Orleans handed Cleveland its ninth straight loss.

The defeat came a night after Cavaliers coach Larry Drew and his players held a lengthy meeting following a 26-point loss to Utah. Cleveland is an NBA-worst 8-32.

Anthony Davis had 20 points and 10 rebounds for New Orleans. Jordan Clarkson led Cleveland with 23 points.