Toronto Raptors vs Portland Trailblazers Dec.27/08

This time, Brandon Roy and the Portland Trail Blazers didn't need any late-game heroics to beat the Toronto Raptors.

Roy had 14 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter, LaMarcus Aldridge added 19 points and nine rebounds, and Portland beat the Raptors 102-89 Saturday night, sweeping the season series for the first time since 2002-03.

Greg Oden broke out of a slump with 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Travis Outlaw added 12 points for the Blazers.

[ ] Chris Bosh had 29 points and nine rebounds for Toronto, which had a two-game winning streak stopped. Jermaine O'Neal scored 17 points, Andrea Bargnani added 13, and Jose Calderon had 11 points and eight assists.

The Raptors dropped to 4-11 in their last 15 games. The Blazers (19-12) are half a game behind Denver for the lead in the Northwest Division. Steve Blake hit the game-winning three-pointer to lead Portland over Toronto 98-97 on Dec. 7.

In this game, Roy, who was 14-of-19 from the field and had nine assists, took over for Portland, scoring 20 points in the second half and pushing the Blazers into the lead while the Raptors' outside shooting faltered.

Roy had an answer for everything Toronto coach Jay Triano threw at him.

``We tried different guys, we tried double-teaming him, and he threw it out,'' Triano said. ``We ran and we blitzed him. We had two different guys on him any time there was a screen.''

The Raptors were 6-of-8 on three-point attempts in the first half and led by as many as 11, but they were just 12-of-34 from the field in the second half, missing all seven three-pointers in the third quarter as the Blazers surged ahead.

Oden had struggled lately, averaging just 6.0 points and 4.4 rebounds in his last five games, and had frequently been in foul trouble. After Portland's Christmas loss to Dallas, coach Nate McMillan said lineup changes might be forthcoming if the Blazers' defence didn't improve, which led to speculation that Oden might lose his starting spot.

But McMillan didn't bench his rookie seven-footer, instead sitting down with the 2007 No. 1 draft pick for one-on-one chat.

``I told Greg, 'unwrap yourself, take the cover off and let people know who you are,''' McMillan said. ``Tonight he just went out and played and had fun with it.''

Oden, who has nine double-doubles this season, asserted himself down low for eight points and three rebounds in the first six minutes. He battled with O'Neal, frequently taking the 12-year veteran to the hoop. Oden had just three fouls.

``It's always good when you can play against somebody physical and I can hit him and he's gonna hit me back and not do all that flopping stuff,'' Oden said about O'Neal.

Toronto led by eight at halftime, but Roy tied it at 65 with a pull-up jumper and Portland entered the final quarter with a two-point lead. Roy and Aldridge scored back-to-back to give the Blazers and 82-74 lead midway through the fourth, and Roy hit a three and 19-foot jumper to put Portland up by 13 with 4:34 left.

``Obviously, a player like Brandon Roy, when he gets going, he's pretty hard to stop,'' said Toronto's Jason Kapono.

Notes: Portland is 11-3 this season at the Rose Garden. Bosh was 11-of-11 from the free-throw line and had all but one of Toronto's free-throw attempts.

Category:

Sports

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• Toronto
• Raptors
• vs
• Portland
• Trailblazers
• Dec.27/08

[swagga250]

what do you people know about basketball seriously you guys just talk so much because your raptor freaks

[MisterBinx]

Blazers own Toronto.

[JWalk]

even thoug the blazers are not a team to take lightly, this was a bit sad. raptors have hit rock bottom when they lost to the thunder, and then when it looked like there was a bit of hope they allow brandon roy to pull a lebron (remember lebrons 24 in the 4th quarter??) on them

[Rsd79]

Disappointing...

I hope Raptors have a lot of cap room at the end of the season or are preparing their team for it.