NBA: Pascal Siakam helps Raptors send Blazers to another road loss

Pascal Siakam #43 of the Toronto Raptors comes off the floor after his team defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in their basketball game at the Scotiabank Arena on November 28, 2022 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Mark Blinch/Getty Images/AFP

Pascal Siakam scored 27 points and the Toronto Raptors defeated the visiting Portland Trail Blazers 117-105 on Sunday afternoon.

Scottie Barnes added 22 points for the Raptors, who are 1-2 halfway into a six-game homestand. Gary Trent Jr. had 19 points, Fred VanVleet had 14 points and seven assists and O.G. Anunoby contributed 14 points and four steals before fouling out.

Damian Lillard scored 34 points for the Trail Blazers, who have lost three in a row overall and seven straight on the road. Anfernee Simons added 22 points, Josh Hart had 18 points, Jusuf Nurkic had 14 points and 18 rebounds and Jerami Grant also scored 14 points for Portland.

Toronto led by 15 points entering the fourth quarter. Grant and Lillard hit consecutive 3-pointers to trim the Portland deficit to seven with 8:30 left in the fourth. Hart’s layup cut the lead to three with 6:55 to play.

Pascal Siakam led the Raptors to the W with a team-high 27 PTS, 4 REB, and 6 AST ????️ pic.twitter.com/C3cJV2QeRw

— NBA (@NBA) January 8, 2023

VanVleet made two straight 3-pointers to increase the lead to nine with 5:46 left. Anunoby made a 3-pointer to bump the lead to 10 with 3:04 remaining. The margin was reduced to five when Simons made a layup with 1:40 left.

But Siakam made two free throws with 1:15 to go and Toronto was in control.

Toronto finished the first quarter on an 11-2 run to lead 34-27.

Toronto scored the first eight points of the second quarter. The lead reached 19 on Trent’s 3-pointer with 7:14 remaining in the quarter. Nurkic’s tip-in capped a 12-0 run that cut the lead to six with 1:59 to play. Hart’s jumper and free throw trimmed the margin to three. Toronto led 58-53 at halftime.

Siakam had 15 points as Toronto shot 48 percent (24 of 50) from the field in the first half.

Simons had 14 first-half points as Portland shot 46.2 percent (18 of 39) from the field.

Toronto started the third quarter with a 14-0 run. Lillard’s layup with 7:32 remaining gave the Trail Blazers their first points of the quarter.

The margin was cut to 12 on Lillard’s layup with 6:05 left. Anunoby’s dunk with 1:27 left capped a 7-0 run that bumped the lead to 19 points. Simons hit a 3-pointer that ended the third quarter and cut Toronto’s lead to 89-74.

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