TORONTO – The Toronto Raptors made history in the first and second quarters of Sunday’s 139-87 rout of the Orlando Magic, and they didn’t know or care as it happened.
Orlando led by as many as seven points, but then the Raptors went on a 31-0 run, holding the Magic scoreless for seven minutes and 48 seconds in a stretch that stretched from the first quarter into the second quarter. That 31-0 stretch was the largest unanswered run by a team in the 30 seasons 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 a career-high 23 points and 15 assists. He was important in the dominant 7:48 span, but said he was feeling the momentum.
“I didn’t know that was happening,” Barnes said. “I just know we were all super locked in, just trying to keep causing turnovers and keep playing as hard as we can on defense, which helped grow the lead for us.”
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The previous record for the longest scoring streak was when the Dallas Mavericks went on a 30-0 streak against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Dec. 2, 2023. AJ Lawson of Brampton, Ont., currently on a two-way contract, moving between Toronto and the Raptors of the G League, played in Love 30-905 and Toronto 905, Run 31-0.
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Reserve center Sandro Mamukelashvili added 19 off the bench. His first replacement helped start Toronto’s historic run, and he finished with a game-high plus-47 defensive rating.
“I think it was so much fun to play that you just don’t understand anything like (running). You just keep going,” Mamukelashvili said. “I feel like everyone enjoyed it.
“We were very physical. We were trying to like and catch and hit and just do some things that we usually do in practice. So it was just a really fun game.”
It was a critical win for a Raptors team trying to make the playoffs with eight games left in their regular season.
Toronto (42-32) was fifth in the Eastern Conference, a half-game ahead of the Atlanta Hawks (42-33), who held the final playoff spot after Sunday’s games. Orlando (39-35) was eighth in the conference, holding second place 2 1/2 games behind the Raptors.
“I know we need it every game,” Barnes said. “So then we are constantly checking (the classification).
“We know we need it every game and every game we have to bring it.”
The Raptors are guaranteed to play at least one game after the regular season ends thanks to the Milwaukee Bucks’ 127-95 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday. This eliminated Milwaukee from the postseason and ensured that Toronto would reach either the play-in tournament or the play-offs.
Mamukelashvili said he would be lying if he said he didn’t check the ranking.
“I think everybody goes home and checks it out. We’re there,” he said. “We fought all year to get ourselves in a good position, we slipped, we came back.
“Now everything is so stacked up, the margin for error is so small, and I feel like you have to be aware of that.”
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on March 29, 2026.
&copies 2026 The Canadian Press
