Field Level Media
Dec 15, 2018
Damian Lillard scored 24 points as the Portland Trail Blazers took care of the visiting Toronto Raptors 128-122 Friday night.
Lillard led eight Trail Blazers scoring in double figures, including Zach Collins with 16 and Seth Curry with 13, both season highs and both coming off the bench. Portland's bench totaled 58 points, its season high.
Kawhi Leonard scored 28 points and Fred VanVleet added a season-high 21 for the Raptors, who had won two in a row to begin their four-game road trip.
Toronto was without center Jonas Valanciunas, who dislocated a thumb in Wednesday's victory at Golden State, and point guard Kyle Lowry, who had a thigh bruise.
Portland got 25 points off the bench in running out to a 58-50 halftime lead. The Blazers had a huge advantage in rebounds (28-17) and points in the paint (38-16) through the first two periods. Serge Ibaka had 14 points for Toronto at the break.
Danny Green sank back-to-back 3-pointers to get the Raptors to within 71-66 early in the third quarter. VanVleet's 3-pointer got the Raptors to within 91-89 heading into the final period.
Curry knocked down consecutive treys to push Portland's lead to 99-89 with 10:17 remaining. Curry's jumper made it 107-93 with 7:50 left. The Raptors rallied, drawing to within 117-110 on Leonard's 3-pointer with 3:03 to go.
CJ Miles and Lillard traded treys, and Leonard followed with another bomb from beyond the arc to draw the Raptors to within 120-116.
VanVleet's layup got Toronto to within 120-118 with 1:50 to play, but CJ McCollum connected from 3-point range to push Portland ahead 123-118 with 1:16 remaining.
Al-Farouq Aminu followed with a 3-pointer, but Leonard's dunk got the Raptors to within 126-120 with 50 seconds to go.
Evan Turner closed out the win with a pair of foul shots with 14.1 ticks left.
Portland used a 9-0 run to seize an early 26-17 lead. The Blazers settled for a 28-23 advantage after one quarter.
The Blazers increased their lead to 47-34 after a Turner layup midway through the second quarter. Portland carried an eight-point edge into the half.
--Field Level Media