By Canadian Press

Carmelo Anthony leads Portland Trail Blazers 101-99 over short-handed Raptors

Jan 9, 2020 | 8:48 PM

TORONTO — Tuesday’s Raptors game was playing out like a good-news story about Toronto’s emerging new bench mob — until Carmelo Anthony spoiled it.

The 10-time NBA all-star scored with 4.1 seconds to play as part of a 28-point performance and lifted the Portland Trail Blazers to a 101-99 victory over the short-handed Raptors.

“I’ll always embrace those moments and love those moments,” said Anthony, who signed with Portland in November after a year’s absence from the league. 

“Whenever you get a chance to have a moment like that you’ve got to take advantage of it. Throughout my career, I’ve always been a guy who will take those shots. I’ve made a ton of them and missed a lot of them as well. But you’ve got to be willing to step up and want to take them.”

Kyle Lowry had 24 points and 10 assists for Toronto (24-13), while Serge Ibaka finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Oshae Brissett and Chris Boucher chipped in with 12 points apiece as part of a bench that contributed 36 points.

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“Those guys were great,” coach Nick Nurse said. “First of all, they were unbelievable in the first half, the way they played and took it out there and they still held in pretty good in the second. . . take that (36 points) every night of the week and we’d be in really good shape.”

Damian Lillard had 20 points for Portland (16-22).  

The Raptors’ depleted lineup wasn’t much of a factor for most of the night against a Blazers team that seemed disinterested on the defensive end. Portland led briefly in the game’s first two minutes but, until the Blazers’ late-game surge, the Raptors dominated, assembling a double-digit lead early in the second quarter.

Leading by nine points to start the fourth, Boucher scored four consecutive Toronto baskets — for 10 points — to almost snuff out Portland’s energy. But the Blazers continued to rally, and three-pointers by Lillard and Anthony made it a three-point game with just 1:46 to play.

“Lack of concentration,” Lowry said of Toronto’s late-game letdown. “They hit six threes in the fourth quarter. We missed some shots. They made a few shots. I think we let them get a little too loose in the fourth quarter.”

Lillard connected on a long three from the logo — off what Nurse said was an illegal screen by Portland — with 37.5 seconds left to tie the game. Portland regained possession after Patrick McCaw fired a bad pass meant for Lowry that prompted groans from the capacity Scotiabank Arena crowd of 19,800. Lowry’s three at the buzzer bounced off the rim.

In what’s become a theme of this season, the Raptors were missing four of their top seven players. It was Toronto’s 10th game without injured Pascal Siakam (groin), Marc Gasol (hamstring) and Norm Powell (shoulder), and the first without Fred VanVleet who injured his hamstring late in the Raptors’ 121-102 win in Brooklyn on Friday.

“It’s gonna be a little bit before we know exactly how long,” VanVleet might be out, Nurse said. Powell is close to returning. 

Lowry said he’s proud of how the bench players such as Brissett, a Toronto native, have stepped up.

“Next man up,” he said. “We’ve got great guys, young kids going out there and trying to prove their worth, go out there and execute and play. We’ve just got to continue to get better. Hopefully these guys get healthy and get out there. We’ve just got to play with what we have.”

The game was the second of three in three nights for Brissett, Matt Thomas, and Stanley Johnson. The trio played for Raptors 905, Toronto’s G League affiliate on Monday, then hopped the plane with the Raptors on Tuesday night to play in Charlotte on Wednesday.

“I’m not even trying to think about that,” Brissett laughed. “Just keep going (Wednesday), stay focused, try to play.”

The Raptors have been clobbered by injuries this season, losing Ibaka to 10 games (ankle) and Lowry to 11 (thumb) earlier in the season. A television camera captured the magnitude of the Raptors’ injury predicament during the game, with a shot of Powell, Gasol, Siakam and VanVleet all seated together in suit jackets.

Nurse insisted he hasn’t let the mounting injuries frustrate him.

“I don’t like to live frustrated. I don’t get out of bed saying, ‘Oh, darn, Fred’s not playing tonight.’ I just gotta accept what you got,” he said. 

Thomas played his first game since missing 21 with a broken finger, finishing with eight points.

The Raptors held Portland to 28 per cent from the field, and just 12.5 per cent from three-point range in the first quarter. Toronto’s bench — McCaw, Thomas, Stanley Johnson, Brissett and Boucher — closed the quarter with an 8-0 run and led 24-15.

Lowry led the way with 10 points in a second quarter that saw the Raptors go up by 14 points on a cutting dunk from Rondae Hollis-Jefferson. Toronto took a 56-46 advantage into the halftime break.

Back-to-back threes from Anunoby had the Raptors up by 12 early in the third. The Blazers saw Kent Bazemore pick up two technicals and get ejected late in the quarter. The Raptors led 78-69 to start the fourth.

After Charlotte, the Raptors return home to host DeMar DeRozan and the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 7, 2020.

Lori Ewing , The Canadian Press