LOS ANGELES • In seven years, Pascal Siakam has gone from being a seminary student, to a raw gem unearthed at a summer camp and to last season's Most Improved Player in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
The forward's All-Star form is also making Toronto Raptors fans forget about their NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Kawhi Leonard.
Siakam averaged a career-high 16.9 points last season, but he has taken another leap forward this term, with his 27.4 points per game putting him seventh on the scoring charts.
The Cameroonian is also helping the NBA champions stay a half game behind Eastern Conference front runners Boston Celtics.
On Sunday, he tallied 24 points, 11 rebounds and had three blocks as Toronto snapped the Los Angeles Lakers' seven-game winning run with a 113-104 victory.
The Staples Centre win was all the more impressive as the visitors were missing All-Star guard Kyle Lowry and forward Serge Ibaka with a fractured thumb and an ankle sprain respectively.
Despite trailing 60-52 at half-time, the Raptors (7-2) dominated down the stretch against the Western Conference leaders (7-2) for their 10th straight win over the Lakers.
Toronto also outshot their hosts 48.3 per cent to 43.6 per cent, leading Lakers star LeBron James to admit that, even without Leonard, they were still league contenders as they had "players with championship DNA".
The forward, who had his fourth triple-double of the term with 13 points, 15 assists and 13 rebounds, said: "We had good opportunities to win the game but they turned it up in the fourth quarter.
"It doesn't matter that they were short-handed."
Danny Green also endured a miserable night on his first meeting with the team he left in the summer after being held to zero points.
The player who replaced him in the Raptors' line-up, Fred VanVleet, claimed "they've got something to prove" to the critics who wrote them off in preseason.
The guard, who had 23 points, added: "We got a lot of tough guys. Our guys got a lot of heart, those playing tonight because of injuries."
Lakers coach Frank Vogel, whose team were led by a game-high 27 points from Anthony Davis, was also impressed by their opponents.
He said: "They were terrific tonight. The guys that had started the game, but also their guys coming off the bench.
"They made the best of it."
Nikola Jokic nailed his second consecutive game-winning basket with 3.3sec left as the Denver Nuggets outlasted hosts Minnesota Timberwolves 100-98 in overtime for their fourth straight win. The centre led his team with 20 points.
Last Friday, he hit a similar a fadeaway jump shot with 2.2sec left in the 100-97 win over Philadelphia.
Separately, Dion Waiters was suspended for 10 games without pay on Sunday by the Miami Heat for "conduct detrimental to the team" after a "very scary situation" on their chartered flight from Phoenix to Los Angeles on Thursday.
Reports said the reserve guard suffered a panic attack after consuming an edible product that contained THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.
The Heat said in a statement: "We are very disappointed in Dion's actions this season and grateful that the outcome wasn't worse."
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
