![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/indicator-big.gif\")
<\/p>\n\u201cAs everybody says, job ain\u2019t done. We\u2019ve just got to go out there and get to Vegas somehow.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t<\/p>\n
That focus paid dividends as Toronto romped to a 140-110 victory over Washington. Indiana lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers 120-109 earlier in the night, meaning that when the Raptors walked off the Scotiabank Arena court they had won East Group A and were the first team to clinch an NBA Cup quarterfinal berth this season.<\/p>\n
Brandon Ingram had 24 points, eight rebounds and six assists to lead Toronto (11-5) to its sixth straight win.<\/p>\n
RJ Barrett of Mississauga, Ont., scored 24 points and pulled down eight boards, Scottie Barnes added 23 points, including 14 in the third quarter, and Mamukelashvili had 23 points and seven rebounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t really thinking about it,\u201d Barnes said of advancing in the NBA Cup. \u201cYou know, we\u2019re just playing. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey told us today that if we win we advanced so we knew it was a big game for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Raptors sit atop the Atlantic Division, a game ahead of the New York Knicks, and are in second in the Eastern Conference, trailing the Detroit Pistons by 2 1\/2 games.<\/p>\n
Rajakovic said that doing well in the NBA Cup is secondary to reaching the playoffs, but that the high-leverage games of the tournament could help Toronto\u2019s young core at the end of the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be really different feeling for us, because it\u2019s going to be one game that can decide, are you going to the final four or not?\u201d said Rajakovic. \u201cDefinitely, we do have a vision and a desire to be there. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really excited about the opportunity to play. I think team is going to be excited about it as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NBA Cup quarterfinals are played at team\u2019s home arenas, while the semis and finals will be at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThink you get like a little bonus too,\u201d smiled Barnes. \u201cThat\u2019s good, but I\u2019m just happy we\u2019re winning games and we\u2019ll try to go play in Vegas.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 21, 2025.<\/p>\n
John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cAs everybody says, job ain\u2019t done. We\u2019ve just got to go out there and get to Vegas somehow.\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299185,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[879,49,48,2467,2461,2468,2460,2462,2463,459,44,2464,2465,2466,82],"class_list":["post-299184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-breaking-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-central-vancouver-island","tag-nanaimo","tag-nanaimo-breaking-news","tag-nanaimo-news","tag-nanaimo-news-now","tag-nanaimonewsnow","tag-nba","tag-news","tag-oceanside","tag-parksville","tag-qualicum","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}