Fred VanVleet Exploded For A Raptors Franchise Record 54 Points Against The Magic

The Toronto Raptors have a new record holder for the most points scored in a single game. Fred VanVleet, who has endeared himself over the years to the Raptors faithful with his meteoric rise from an undrafted guard to a crucial member of the rotation, went off against the Orlando Magic, scoring 54 points on absolutely ludicrous efficiency to power the Raptors to a 123-108 win.

VanVleet was locked in from the jump. While Orlando scored the game’s first 11 points, VanVleet broke Toronto’s scoreless drought with a triple, then proceeded to make seven more before the end of the first half. By the time the Raptors took a four-point lead into the locker room, VanVleet had 28 on 8-for-9 shooting from behind the arc.

He didn’t exactly cool off after the halftime break, either. VanVleet hit his career-best mark midway through the third when he canned his 10th three of the evening, giving himself 39 points.

In classic Fred VanVleet fashion, he just kept coming and coming, ending the frame with 46 points in all. His final bucket of the third came after he knifed through the heart of the Magic defense and finished a layup over the outstretched arm of another man who once hit the 50-point mark for Toronto, Terrence Ross.

It seemed like the only thing that could stop VanVleet was Raptors coach Nick Nurse sending him to the bench once the game got out of hand. After a pair of free throws and a layup got him to the 50-point mark, VanVleet scooped up an errant pass to hit 52 on the easiest of layups. Then, he was fed by Kyle Lowry and made a little — pardon the pun — magic happen to get yet another layup for the record.

Not only did VanVleet score a ton of points, he did so on 17-for-23 shooting with an 11-for-14 clip from behind the arc. He also managed to make all nine of his attempts from the charity stripe. This served as a record in more ways than one, as VanVleet broke Moses Malone’s record for the most points scored in one game by an undrafted player. Malone had previously set the record at 53.

With the win, Toronto continued to climb out of the early season hole it found itself in, bumping their record up to 9-12 and putting them a hair above the New York Knicks for the 10-seed at this juncture.