Game Report- Blazers @ Raptors

Blazers 118, Raptors 110.

The Portland Trailblazers withstood a strong late-fightback from the Toronto, riding their exceptional three-point shooting to an overtime victory inside the Air Canada Centre. LaMarcus Aldridge and Damien Lillard both posted strong 25-point performances, but it was the Blazers' 15/32 shooting from deep that separated the two sides.

Both teams opened the game extremely efficiently on offense, with Jonas Valanciunas, in particular, making a number of big plays, including a strong alley-oop off of a Kyle Lowry assist. Portland's ball movement on offense created an array of open looks for the visitors, opportunities which were buried by shooters Nicholas Batum and Wes Matthews. Rudy Gay and Valanciunas both posted double-digit point first quarters, but, despite Toronto's efficient offense, Portland took an early lead. 31-29 Blazers.

The second period was similar from the Raptors, with the team really failing to make the defensive adjustments to close down the talented Blazers. A spinning 360-layup from Demar DeRozan provided the highlight of the half, and Toronto were able to close an 8-point to deficit back to 3. A fun half with limited defense, 57-54 Blazers.

Portland came out firing in the second half, however, with Damien Lillard and Aldridge taking control of the game. Valanciunas continued to impress on offense, working his post game on Robin Lopez extremely effectively. With Toronto turnovers continuing to pile-up, with 14 through three period, Portland were able to limit the Raptors to just 15 points for the quarter. 79-69 Blazers.

Lillard began the final period burning-hot, sinking two three-pointers and an and-one to blow the lead out to 17. DeRozan (29 points), while visibly upset with his team's performance, was able to, in conjunction with Gay (30 points), bring the Raptors back from the dead, with a buzzer-beating layup scored by Gay to send the game to overtime. For the first time in the game, the Raptors played with immense energy on both ends of the floor, and rightfully attacked the rim (62 points in the paint), particularly when Robin Lopez had fouled out. 102-102.

While Toronto took an early lead in overtime, the Blazers, lead by Lillard (25 points) tore away, with back-to-back threes from Batum sealing the road win. 118-110 Blazers.

Again, Toronto dug in and fought when faced with a large deficit, but the failure to adjust and cover the multiple Portland shooters must, again, ask questions about the coaching of Dwane Casey.