McCollum, Nurkic lead Trail Blazers over Raptors, 114-105
TORONTO (AP) — CJ McCollum had 19 points and 10 rebounds, Jusuf Nurkic had 11 points and 11 rebounds for his fifth straight double-double, and the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Toronto Raptors 114-105 on Sunday night.
Anfernee Simons and Nassir Little each had 19 points and Ben McLemore had 17 for the Blazers, who never trailed.
Pascal Siakam scored 28 points and Fred VanVleet had 19 for Toronto, which fell behind by 34 points in the first half before cutting the gap to four, 105-101, on a 3 from VanVleet with 1:24 remaining.
But Simons answered VanVleet’s late 3 with two of his own, putting Portland up 111-101 with 40 seconds left.
Gary Trent Jr. scored 13 points for the Raptors, while Chris Boucher and OG Anunoby each had 11.
After a five-game road trip in mostly-full arenas, Toronto played at home, where fans have not been permitted since Dec. 31.
Portland connected on six of its first eight field-goal attempts, while the Raptors made just one of their first 16.
Little scored 10 in the first quarter to help the Trail Blazers jump out to a 25-4 lead and held a 33-15 edge going into the second quarter.
Toronto missed five straight shots to start the second and didn’t score until Anunoby’s dunk with 7:41 left in the half. The Raptors had the final four points of the quarter, but trailed 64-34 at the intermission.
The Raptors had almost as many turnovers in the first half (10) as they had made baskets (11). Toronto responded with a 33-point third period, including 11 from Siakam, and trailed 86-67 heading to the fourth.
TIP-INS
Trail Blazers: McCollum had six assists. … Former Raptors G Norm Powell missed his third straight game for personal reasons, but coach Chauncey Billups said he hopes Powell will rejoin the team soon. … Portland won its second straight to finish 4-2 on a six-game road trip, improving to 6-15 away from home this season.
Raptors: Set season-lows for first-quarter points and first-half points. … C Khem Birch (fractured nose) missed his fifth straight game.
UP NEXT
Trail Blazers: Host Minnesota on Tuesday.
Raptors: Host Charlotte on Tuesday.
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