Raptors eke out win at Portland
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Kyle Lowry scored 27 points to lead the Toronto Raptors to a 95-91 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night at Moda Center.
DeMar DeRozan contributed 20 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists as the Raptors (22-8) earned their fourth win in a row and their 14th in 16 outings. The own seven consecutive road victories.
Patrick Patterson added 15 points and eight rebounds, and Jonas Valanciunas collected 12 points and 12 boards for Toronto.
CJ McCollum scored 29 points and handed out seven assists for the Trail Blazers (13-20), who lost for the sixth time in a row and the 10th time in 11 contests. Mason Plumlee had 13 points and 15 boards for the Blazers, who were without Damian Lillard (ankle).
DeRozan had 14 points and Valanciunas added 10 to lift Toronto to a 43-42 lead at halftime. McCollum scored 14 and Plumlee had nine points and eight rebounds for Portland at the break.
McCollum addeded six points and passed out seven assists in the third quarter, but Lowry tallied 11 points in the quarter, and Toronto carried a 73-68 advantage into the final period.
Portland outscored the Raptors 14-6 to take an 82-79 lead. Toronto answered with a 7-0 run to go ahead 86-82 with five minutes remaining.
McCollum's driving layup sliced the difference to 86-84, but Lowry buried a 3-pointer to make it 89-84 with 3:15 left. McCollum hit a jump shot to trim the margin to 89-86 with 2:51 to go.
Toronto's Cory Joseph scored on a goaltending call to up the lead to 91-86 with 2:11 to play. Neither team scored again until McCollum knocked down a trey with 59 seconds remaining.
Joseph sank a pair at the line with 16.2 seconds left to make it 93-89. McCollum answered with two foul shots to cut it to 93-91 with 11.4 seconds remaining.
DeRozan knocked down two at the line for a 95-91 Toronto lead with 11.0 seconds to go, wrapping up the scoring.
McCollum scored 10 points as the Blazers took a 24-21 lead into the second quarter. The Raptors were 0 of 7 from 3-point range through the first 12 minutes.
Toronto tied the game at 26-26, and moments later, Patterson's 3-pointer gave the Raptors their first lead at 36-35, and a DeRozan 3 made it 39-35. The teams battled back and forth, with Toronto taking a one-point edge into intermission.
NOTES: Portland G Damian Lillard (ankle) missed a game for the first time this season. Lillard scored 50 points when he last faced the Raptors in March, one point shy of his career high. ... Toronto entered the game ranked second in the NBA in field-goal percentage and third in scoring, free-throw percentage and 3-point percentage. ... Portland F Evan Turner (ankle) returned after missing the previous three games. ... The matchup featured two of the NBA's three youngest teams. Portland is No. 2 and Toronto No. 3. ... This was the second stop on a six-game road trip for Toronto, which plays at Golden State on Wednesday. ... Portland fell for just the fourth time in its past 16 meetings with Toronto, but the Raptors swept both games from the Blazers last season, the first time that happened since the 1996-97 season. ... The Blazers play host to the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday.