Even deprived of Damian Lillard, the Blazers have weapons. The Raptors can testify to this as Portland came to glean its sixth victory in eight games against Toronto, especially after a thunderous start.
After 7 minutes of play marked by the 3-pointers of the McCollum-Simons-Little trio and a dunk from Jusuf Nurkic, Portland was indeed leading 25 to 4! Relegated to -18 after 12 minutes following a new 3-pointer signed Ben McLemore at the last second of the period, the locals could only see the damage as the Blazers continued to drive the point home (15-33) .
This time with an Elleby-McLemore tandem to shoot from afar and put on a show, before handing over to CJ McCollum and Anfernee Simons. One minute from the break, the score was then 64-30 in favor of the Oregon franchise.
Even back to the wall, the Raptors reacted, however, and how! Still at -19 at the end of the third quarter (67-86), and still 24 points behind 8 minutes from the end of the match, Toronto revolted by lining up a 25-8 in less than 7 minutes, relying on Gary Trent Jr. and Fred VanVleet to catch fire from afar alongside a found Pascal Siakam (98-103).
With a new 3-point missile, Fred VanVleet reduced the gap to -4 less than 90 seconds from the final buzzer (101-105). Time for Anfernee Simons to respond in turn with two baskets behind the arc before letting Nassir Little put an end to the suspense with a final dunk to ensure victory (114-105).
WHAT YOU MUST REMEMBER
– The thunderous start of the Blazers. How to make things easier during an away game? Portland delivered the demonstration in less than 7 minutes of play, stepping on the Raptors to bring the gap to +21! The recipe is ultimately quite simple on paper: defense, transition, external address. Three ingredients that have long allowed the Blazers to keep Toronto at a safe distance.
– The meteoric return of the Raptors. Even if the “comeback” of the locals has not been completed, this way of responding to pride, even when the match may seem folded, is always interesting and speaks about the state of mind of a group. . The Raptors gave it their all until the end. In 7 minutes, they in any case recalled that they had the weapons to make more than one shudder with the VanVleet-Trent Jr-Siakam trio.
TOPS/FLOPS
✅ Anfernee Simons. Of the three players who finished on 19 points with Nassir Little and CJ McCollum, he is perhaps the one who deserves to be highlighted the most. Yet not the most skilled in shooting (6/18 even if he hurt with his 5/9 from 3-pointers), and despite his six lost balls, he knew how to keep his spirits up to kill the Raptors in the final with two missiles behind the arc that put an end to the suspense. Without these two “clutch” baskets, the outcome might have been different!
✅ Ben McLemore. Between the absences of Damian Lillard, Norman Powell and the small game of Robert Covington, it can be said that Ben McLemore had a “window of opportunity” to exploit when coming off the bench. The back thus played his role of sniper wonderfully to finish at 17 points at 5/7 behind the arc. A valuable contribution for the Chauncey Billups collective.
⛔ OG Anunoby. The winger did not know how to take the train on the way when it (finally) left after the rest. In 42 minutes spent on the field, OG Anunoby was however active with 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks. His only concern of the evening concerned the scoring since he finished at 4/15 including 1/7 at 3-points which is a task.
THE FOLLOWING
Toronto (22-22): next duel against Charlotte, still at home.
Portland (20-26): return home for the Blazers who will host the Wolves on Tuesday.
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