Raps rally from tough loss to lay beatdown on the Trail Blazers

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It was a case of putting it all together from what has started out as a pretty good road trip.

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The Raptors retained the offensive push they had against the Warriors in a tough loss and relocated that defensive cohesion from the previous game in Sacramento that went missing against Golden State, to put a positive beatdown on the Portland Trail Blazers in a 123-105 win.

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There were plenty of excuses to be had in this one, from losing O.G. Anunoby the night before to a wrist injury and the fact that the Raptors arrived in the wee hours of the morning while the Blazers had been cooling their jets at home since Wednesday night.

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But from the jump, the Raptors were both the more energetic and locked-in team.

They ended the first quarter up 37-14 (biggest lead in a game after a quarter this year) and then took a 63-44 run into the locker room at half.

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It wasn’t a seamless night by any means. The Raptors hit a few bumps, but each time they did, they had an answer.

And wouldn’t you know it? The guy who had that answer more often than not was Fred VanVleet, the same Fred VanVleet too many Raptor fans seem willing, even eager to part with at the trade deadline.

VanVleet didn’t have his best offensive game, but he was there when his team needed him most.

With the lead down to just four with nine minutes to go in the game, VanVleet came back in the game and with him running the show, that four-point lead got right back up to 18 as the Raptors promptly went on a 14-0 run.

VanVleet would finish the night with just 11 points, nine assists and six rebounds, but it was his focus defensively on Damian Lillard and his timely scoring that made sure this didn’t turn into another game in which Raptors played well, but came away with a loss.

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Lillard still got to his average 30 points, but every time it looked like he might get on one of those runs that he enjoyed in his previous game when he went off for 60, there was VanVleet denying him time and again.

VanVleet, though, did not win this one by himself.

Precious Achiuwa, starting in place of the injured OG Anunoby, wasted little time putting his imprint on this game. The man had a double-double by halftime, something only accomplished in Raptorland this year by Pascal Siakam until last night, and then kept up that pace to finish with a career-high 27 points and 13 rebounds.

Achiuwa has made steady progression since coming back from a nasty ankle injury that cost him 24 games on the injured list and is at the point now where anything less than 25 or 28 minutes a night — even coming off the bench, if that happens to be the case — is not enough.

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Making the night quite a bit easier than it normally might have been was an injury to Josef Nurkic, that kept the Blazers starting centre out of action.

 Starting in his place was Drew Eubanks, a Raptor-for-a-minute in the Goran Dragic-Thad Young deal before he was promptly waived.

Eubanks was targeted early and often by the Raptors who scored 20 of their first 26 points in the paint.

When Eubanks came out of the game, the Blazers didn’t have much size at all, and the Raptors were able to take advantage of that.

Scottie Barnes’ stellar month of January continued with yet another locked-in game that saw him score 18, pull down 10 boards and contribute further with a seven-assist night.

Gone almost completely from his game was that passive play of December and maybe the earliest part of January. He’s attacking defenders and guarding his yard with the type of enthusiasm even his biggest supporters were calling for just a month ago.

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Pascal Siakam, who has been so good for so much of the year that he almost gets taken for granted, had 24 to help keep the Raptors in charge of this one for the bulk of the night.

The Raptors will now enjoy a much-earned day off before continuing this seven-game road trip with a tilt against the Suns in Phoenix on Monday night.

THE O.G. NEWS

When Anunoby fell hard on his left wrist after a mid-air collision with JaMychel Green early in the second quarter in the loss to the Warriors, a lot of Raptors’ fans reached for their worry beads.

The X-rays on the wrist came back negative so there doesn’t appear to be a break, but an MRI performed Saturday in Portland was still being assessed so Anunoby’s status remains unclear.

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