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 Portland's Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum entered the game averaging
46.1 points and Toronto's DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry were
averaging 44.9.
The Trail Blazers lost, but the Lillard-McCollum tandem won the
backcourt matchup with a combined 74 points on 24-of-45 shooting
from the field and Lilliard finished with 50.
DeRozan and Lowry responded with 66 points on 15-of-34 shooting from
the floor.
"They're really good. (Lillard) had 50 points tonight. That's why
they're in the position they are -- in the playoffs -- because of
that backcourt," said Lowry, who finished with 28 points and six
assists in the win. "It wasn't nothing personal at all. It was our
team trying to win against their team."
DeRozan finished with a team-high 38 points as the Raptors stretched
their franchise-best winning streak to 12 games. He set a franchise
record in a game with 24 made free throws and finished one shy of
the NBA record for consecutive free throws without a miss.
He had a shot at the record with less than a second remaining but
missed his final free throw of the night.
"Kyle told me to miss. I'm blaming it on Kyle," DeRozan joked. "I
didn't know (about the record). I had no clue.
"(Lowry) told me 0.9 seconds, if you miss, they're going to try to
wind up and throw it. But happy we got the win."
Toronto (41-19) swept the season series with Portland (33-30).
Lillard had five assists in addition to his 50 points. It was his
ninth game with 30 or more points this season.
McCollum added 24 points and five assists.
With less than three seconds remaining, Lillard drained a 3-pointer
to pull the Trail Blazers within 116-115.
"I was on the bench to start the fourth and I was just a little bit
frustrated because it seemed like we couldn't catch a break,"
Lillard said. "We had a couple turnovers and I told myself on the
bench, 'When I get back in the game, I'm going after this game; I'm
going to try and take over the game.'
That was just my mindset."
Friday marked the fourth time an opposing player scored 50 points at
Air Canada Centre. Kevin Durant was the last to do so on March 21,
2014.
"This kid, how he does not make (the all-star team), and I know he
doesn't like talking about it, but how he isn't an all-star in our
league, shame on us," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said.
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"That young man can score any which way he wants to. Talk about
(Steph) Curry coming across half-court, shooting it, this young man
can come across half-court and shoot it also.
"I'm happy for him, the way he's handled the situation because he
can be a bitter young man, but he's going to be trouble for all of
us for a long period of time."
Portland dropped back-to-back games for the first time since a
three-game skid on Jan. 4-8.
"It was tough. You never want to lose games," McCollum said. "We
competed, but at the end, we weren't able to come up with the win."
DeRozan concluded the third quarter by sinking his 20th and 21st
free throws to give the Raptors a 90-77 lead through three quarters.
DeRozan passed his career high for free throws made and attempted at
that point.
Toronto led 58-52 at halftime paced by a combined 34 points from
DeRozan and Lowry.
The story of the first half was the teams combining for 34 personal
fouls. Portland's Mason Plumlee had four of those through two
quarters.
Toronto pulled away midway through the second quarter as Cory Joseph
laid it in off the glass to give the Raptors 45-39 lead with 6:23
remaining as part of an 8-0 run.
The Raptors led 31-30 after the first quarter on 17 points from
DeRozan. The teams combined for 20 field goals and 19 fouls in the
first quarter.
NOTES: Toronto recalled F Bruno Caboclo, C Lucas Nogueira and G
Norman Powell from the D-League's Raptors 905 before tip-off. ...
Powell started in place of F James Johnson. ... Portland F Al-Farouq
Aminu (bruised hand) was in the starting lineup. ... Trail Blazers F
Ed Davis, who was drafted by the Raptors, made his fourth visit to
Toronto as a member of the opposition. ... Portland concludes its
six-game road trip on Sunday in Detroit. Toronto continues its
seven-game homestand against the Houston Rockets on Sunday.
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reserved.]
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