Trail Blazers nip Raptors for third straight road win

Damian Lillard scored 22 points and added 11 assists as the visiting Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Toronto Raptors, 122-117, on Sunday, March 28 (Monday, March 29, Manila time).

CJ McCollum scored 10 of his 23 points in the 4th quarter and had 7 rebounds for the Trail Blazers, who have won 3 straight road games.

Derrick Jones Jr added 16 points for Portland. Robert Covington had 13 points and 12 rebounds, former Raptor Norman Powell had 13 points, Enes Kanter and Jusuf Nurkic each had 10.

Pascal Siakam scored 26 points for the Raptors. OG Anunoby added 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Raptors, Fred VanVleet had 20 points, Chris Boucher had 18 points and 11 rebounds, former Trail Blazer Rodney Hood had 13 points, and Stanley Johnson had 11.

The Raptors were without Kyle Lowry (sore right foot) and DeAndre’ Bembry and Paul Watson Jr (health and safety protocols).

The teams completed a trade on Thursday that sent Powell to Portland with Gary Trent Jr and Hood going to Toronto.

The Trail Blazers, who trailed by as many as 11 points during the 2nd quarter, outscored the Raptors 23-10 in the 3rd quarter to lead by 7 entering the 4th.

McCollum made a jumper and a free throw to bump the lead to 11 with 7:53 to go.

A VanVleet three-pointer cut the lead to one with 2:28 remaining. McCollum responded with a jumper and a layup for a five-point lead.

McCollum later hit a jumper and a free throw to increase the lead to 7 with 44.4 seconds left.

VanVleet made a layup to cut the lead to 3 with 22.6 seconds left. Powell made two free throws for a five-point lead. A Siakam layup trimmed it to 3 with 6 seconds to go.

The Raptors led 41-32 after one quarter and led 74-68 at halftime.

A Powell dunk put Portland into a one-point lead with 5:27 left in the 3rd quarter. A layup by Jones capped a 14-0 run that gave Portland a seven-point lead with 1:08 left in the 3rd. Portland led 91-84 after 3 quarters. – Rappler.com