NBA Watch League Pass

Raptors cruise to 40-point win over Pacers, jump in East standings with Bulls vs. Cavaliers result

Gilbert McGregor

•
Raptors cruise to 40-point win over Pacers, jump in East standings with Bulls vs. Cavaliers result image

The Toronto Raptors moved to 42-32 on the season with a 131-91 win over the Indiana Pacers on Saturday night. It's a landmark win as the Raptors have secured their eighth winning season in the last nine years.

Toronto made its presence felt early and often, getting out to a 41-21 lead at the end of the first quarter and it never looked back, leading by as many as 42 points in the game.

But it wasn't without hindrance.

Due to an electrical fire at Scotiabank Arena with 4:05 remaining in the first half, there was a suspension of play for over an hour, resulting in a precautionary evacuation of fans, who were unable to return once play resumed.

MORE: Why was Raptors vs. Pacers suspended? Scotiabank Arena evacuated due to electrical fire

The Raptors also took the precautionary measure of sitting Fred VanVleet for the remainder of the game to avoid taking a risk with his bothersome knee.

In a performance that was dominant across the board, Precious Achiuwa first stole the spotlight, sinking a career-high four 3-pointers in his first 12 minutes of action.

Achiuwa would go on to finish with 18 points on 7 of 12 shooting from the field. Achiuwa's performance paced a season-best 62 points from the Raptors' reserves. Pascal Siakam led all scorers with 23 points, seven assists, six rebounds and three steals.

Eight games now remain on the Raptors' regular-season schedule and they can realistically finish as high as fifth in the Eastern Conference — they're in a three-team battle for playoff positioning with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls.

As fate would have it, the Bulls were in Cleveland to take on the Cavaliers Saturday night.

With Toronto taking care of business, the focus shifted to tracking the proceedings in Cleveland, where the Bulls moved to 43-31 on the season with a win over the Cavaliers, who fall to 41-33.

Toronto moves into sole possession of the East's sixth seed and is currently out of the Play-In Tournament picture.

The Raptors now trail the fifth-seeded Bulls by one game but in losing lost the season series to both the Cavaliers and Bulls, they would need to finish at least one game above each team to earn a higher seed.

All three teams have eight games remaining and are back in action on Monday. The Raptors host the red-hot Celtics, the Bulls visit the Knicks and the Cavaliers host the Magic.

Here's how a busy Saturday night impacted the Eastern Conference standings.

NBA LEAGUE PASS: Sign up to unlock live out-of-market games (7-day free trial)

2021-22 Eastern Conference standings, Play-In Tournament picture

(Through games played on Saturday, March 26.)

  Team W L WIN% GB
5 Bulls 43 31 .581 +2.0
6 Raptors 42 32 .568 +1.0
7 Cavaliers 41 33 .562 —
8 Nets 39 35 .521 -2.0
9 Hornets 38 36 .514 -3.0
10 Hawks 37 37 .500 -4.0

Bulls schedule 2021-22

Date Opponent Time (ET)
March 28 at Knicks 7:30 p.m.
March 29 at Wizards 7 p.m.
March 31 vs. Clippers 8 p.m.
April 2 vs. Heat 8 p.m.
April 5 vs. Bucks 8 p.m.
April 6 vs. Celtics 8 p.m.
April 8 vs. Hornets 8 p.m.
April 10 at Timberwolves TBD

Raptors schedule 2021-22

Date Opponent Time (ET)
March 28 vs. Celtics 7:30 p.m.
March 30 vs. Timberwolves 7:30 p.m.
April 1 at Magic 7 p.m.
April 3 vs. Heat 7 p.m.
April 5 vs. Hawks 7:30 p.m.
April 7 vs. 76ers 7:30 p.m.
April 8 vs. Rockets 7:30 p.m.
April 10 at Knicks TBD

Cavaliers schedule 2021-22

Date Opponent Time (ET)
March 28 vs. Magic 7 p.m.
March 30 vs. Mavericks 7 p.m.
March 31 at Hawks 7:30 p.m.
April 2 at Knicks 1 p.m.
April 3 vs. 76ers 6 p.m.
April 5 at Magic 7 p.m.
April 8 at Nets 7:30 p.m.
April 10 vs. Bucks TBD

Gilbert McGregor

Gilbert McGregor Photo

Gilbert McGregor first joined The Sporting News in 2018 as a content producer for Global editions of NBA.com. Before covering the game, McGregor played basketball collegiately at Wake Forest, graduating with a Communication degree in 2016. McGregor began covering the NBA during the 2017-18 season and has been on hand for a number of league events.