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Tim BontempsESPN
Fred VanVleet set a Toronto Raptors franchise record and a record for undrawn players by scoring 54 points in Toronto’s 123-108 victory over the Orlando Magic on Tuesday night.
“It was just time. … It’s time,” VanVleet told SportstNet in Toronto. “I’ve been missing a lot of openers this season, more than I usually do, but it was time. Sometimes you go into that groove and you find that area, and tonight I was able to do it and my teammates have a amazing job that I found, that I was looking for and that I was carrying the ball in my places. Many of them were just catches and shots. “
VanVleet set both records with a position remaining at 3:46 of the fourth quarter, a bucket that simultaneously surpassed DeMar DeRozan’s 52-point record, as well as Hall of Famer Moses Malone’s 53-point record for a unrecruited player. VanVleet scored nearly half of Toronto’s points in a comfortable victory.
VanVleet quickly started scoring 17 points in the first quarter, scoring all three 3-point attempts. At the break, he reached 28 points, with eight triples. He surpassed his previous 36 points in the middle of the third quarter, scoring 46 and 11 points after three quarters.
VanVleet was unable to chase either Donyell Marshall’s franchise record of 12 triples scored or Klay Thompson’s NBA record of 14. When he returned to the fourth quarter, he made two free throws after receiving a foul on one unit and then made three indisputable arrangements to reach his record total.
He said he hoped to hear from DeRozan, his former teammate, whom he said he thought about as he approached the record.
“It was only a matter of time,” VanVleet said, with a smile, surpassing DeRozan’s mark. “Every time I get a 30, I usually get a text from DeMar that says I’m weak for not breaking his record. So I definitely had it in mind as I was closing the stretch.”
DeRozan took to Twitter shortly after the match to congratulate VanVleet, writing in part, “I’m glad you became champion! I told you so!”
VanVleet finished 17 against 23 from the field, including 11 against 14 in triples and 9 against 9 from the free throw line. He also had 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocks in 37 minutes for Toronto, which he swept with a two-game set with Orlando.
Now, in his fifth season, VanVleet previously set another record for an unrecruited player this offseason when he signed a four-year, $ 85 million contract to stay with the Raptors, who left him leaving out of Wichita state in 2016. The contract was the largest for an unrecruited player in NBA history.