PORTLAND, Ore. — Guards Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan combined for 59 points as the Toronto Raptors beat the Portland Trail Blazers 110-103 on Thursday at the Moda Center.
Lowry scored 30 points with eight assists while DeRozan added 29 points for the Raptors (34-16), who won for the 13th time in their last 14 outings. Center Jonas Valanciunas chipped in 14 points and 11 rebounds for Toronto, which won for only the second time in the last 13 trips to Portland and first since December 2006.
Guard Damian Lillard collected 27 points and 11 assists while guard CJ McCollum had 21 points for the Trail Blazers (24-27), who lost for only the third time in 12 games. Guard Allen Crabbe added 17 points off the Portland bench.
DeRozan and Lowry combined for 25 points to stake Toronto to a 59-51 lead at halftime. DeRozan scored 14 points and Lowry 11 in the first half while Valanciunas had 10 points and seven rebounds.
Toronto increased its lead to 66-54, but the Blazers rallied to get within 73-69. The Raptors took an 82-75 advantage into the final period.
Portland trimmed the margin to 84-81, but Lowry scored eight points in a 10-0 Toronto run to hike the lead to 94-81 with 6:52 remaining. The Blazers cut the difference to 101-93 after a Lillard trey with 3:12 to play. Lillard’s jumper got them to within 106-99 with 1:19 to go, and a pair of foul shots by Crabbe made it 106-101 with 55.3 seconds left.
Lillard stole a pass, but McCollum missed a jumper, and Valanciunas converted a pair at the line for a 108-101 Toronto advantage with 33.9 seconds remaining.
DeRozan (12) and Lowry (six) combined for all of the points as Toronto took a 18-12 lead to start the game. The Raptors upped the margin to 37-23. It was 37-25 at the first-quarter break and 43-27 early in the second quarter before the Blazers used a 7-0 run to close the gap to 43-34.
Portland trimmed the difference to 53-47, and the Raptors settled for an eight-point bulge at the half.
NOTES: Toronto G Kyle Lowry will participate in the 3-point contest and Portland G CJ McCollum will take part in the skills challenge during All-Star weekend. Lowry was a participant in the skills challenge a year ago. “That was fun, but I think the 3-point contest will be even better,” Lowry said. … Portland coach Terry Stotts and Toronto coach Dwane Casey worked together for eight years as assistants on two staffs — four in Seattle under George Karl and four in Dallas under Rick Carlisle. Stotts and Casey were with the Mavericks when they won the NBA championship in 2011.”We’ve been through a lot together,” Stotts said. “We both have a good appreciation for the other. Dwane is very competitive and passionate about the game. He’s tough-minded. He gains the respect of his players wherever he has been.”