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The Portland Trail Blazers faced the Toronto Raptors with recently acquired guard Norman Powell in the starting lineup. This would mark the first night the Blazers would field a full roster in the past three months. Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic started alongside Powell. Meanwhile, Gary Trent, Jr. and Rodney Hood, who the Blazers traded for Powell, have played prominent roles for the opposition. Raptors guard Kyle Lowry missed the game.
The renewed roster, combined with a depleted (and let’s face it, not so good) rotation in Toronto, should have meant an easy win for the Blazers. You know what they say about easy wins: Portland never gets them. Neither tonight. Portland gave the offensively challenged Raptors 74 points in the first half, then put in an incredible third defensive period from Robert Covington (in addition to scoring from Lillard and McCollum in the home stretch) to salt a precarious 122 victory. -117.
Seven Blazers scored in double digits, led by McCollum with 23 and Lillard with 22. Derrick Jones, Jr. led the bench with 16. Lillard added 11 assists. Powell scored 13 against his former team, Trent, Jr. 6 and Rodney Hood 13 against theirs.
First shift
The game started at a slower pace than the Blazers prefer, as both teams lowered the ball to the floor in the half court. Toronto defended the Blazers well. The bad shots from the Raptors made it look like the Blazers were defending themselves well, too. Toronto was not going to be able to keep the Portland offense going forever. Meanwhile, Aron Baynes’ three pointers will still look bad. The Blazers used a size larger to score on the inside as Toronto watched and prayed. Portland has started to get ahead.
Norman Powell however made two quick faults. When he sat down, Portland’s defense looked lesser. Then Enes Kanter came along and it got worse. The Raptors scored at the edge and then started chasing him in threes when Portland collapsed on the inside. Suddenly the team that couldn’t hit a shot couldn’t miss. Pascal Siakam separated Portland’s broken defense and, incredibly, the game started to feel like a rout. Toronto scored 41 points in the first versus 32 for the Blazers. It was not good.
On the positive side, Lillard had 9 assists after a quarter.
Second quarter
Portland’s second unit was successful in the second period by turning things around in Toronto. The Raptors’ frontline was more athletic than Portland’s, but it was also smaller. The Blazers moved away from the guards a bit, bringing the ball back inside the post or drive. Toronto couldn’t cope and the Blazers quickly closed the gap. But the Raptors gathered in the middle of the frame. go straight back to the great Blazers inside and out. The tempo remained slow and each hit felt important. Lillard took over as the clock went down. Portland also improved on the defense, overcrowding and counting of Toronto’s big men on the inside. However, the Raptors had a bad habit of passing out to attackers in threes on these possessions. The long balls kept them above the water despite Lillard’s score (or Portland’s rebounders scoring Queen’s misses). Then CJ McCollum threw a blitz and all of a sudden the Portland attack looked complete – and swift – again. Speed played into the hands of Derrick Jones, Jr., who put the Raptors in a one-man whirlwind to score 11 points on layups and dunks before intermission. But a Rodney Hood three gave Toronto 74 points at the half against 68 for the Blazers.
Third quarter
The Blazers took a break early in the third period. Toronto has missed all of its jumpers, wide open or not. Into the void, Lillard and McCollum took a step. The Blazers closed the gap for the third time in the game, climbing to less than one. But the Raptors were slippery, weaving their way down the alley behind Siakam, scoring with regularity. The Portland three refused to fall, which is never a good sign. Lillard finally got one to drop at 5 p.m. That, followed by a steal and a Powell layup, ultimately pushed Portland into the lead. Portland’s defense generally picked up after that, in large part because of Robert Covington, who seemed to be everywhere at once. The Raptors still couldn’t hit a three from their side, which allowed the Blazers to step up their defense and bounce back inside. At that point, the wheels fell for Toronto. They only scored 10 in the period. Lillard had 9 on his own. Portland led 91-84 after three.
Fourth trimester
Anfernee Simons was hot to start the fourth. Frankly, any hot moment – whether from an individual or the arc in general – was going to be enough to put the game aside. Sadly, Toronto eventually warmed up from a distance, equaling Portland from the arc. The Blazers held onto their lead, but not quite comfortably. The Raptors shot under 4 with 3:30 left when Covington fouled Chris Boucher on a three, then just one run when Fred VanVleet hit a three a few possessions later. But McCollum hit two longs to save the head, then a layup on the next play to extend it to 5. Then McCollum stuck in the dagger with a series of dribbling moves to reach the key for a shot and a jump. . 7 points 45 seconds from the end were enough to put the game out of reach, finally. The Blazers searched critical possessions twice, but were bailed out as the Toronto players scooped the ball out of bounds each time. Powell made a few free throws at the last minute, but he made up for it by sinking two afterwards. It wasn’t enough to affect the outcome anyway. As with the rest of the game, the game was not pretty, but the result was okay.
Stay tuned for Steve Dewald’s review of this game, coming soon!
The score of the box
The Blazers have a few days off before they face the Detroit Pistons at Motor City on Wednesday at 4 a.m. in the Pacific.
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