The Toronto Raptors have been hot as of late being 2-0 on their west coast trip, beating the Los Angeles Clippers and the Denver Nuggets. Now they are facing the Portland Trailblazers, who are owners of the 2nd best record in the NBA, would be a tough matchup. The Toronto Raptors were hoping to extend to a 3-0 west coast trip, and that would make them happy campers, beating both the Clippers and the Trailblazers, who are both playoff teams. The Toronto Raptors had the lead throughout 3 quarters but the Trailblazers outscored the Raptors 24-17 in the 4th quarter to push the game into overtime. Kyle Lowry had 25 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists, Valanciunas and Johnson had 14 each but the Raptors couldn’t pull through. Damian Lilard had 25 points and Wesley Matthews for 19 points and the Trailblazers pulled through.
Analysis: Okay so the Toronto Raptors faced their first hard opponent of the west coast road trip (Clippers are weird right now) in the Portland Trailblazers, and they lost, but that doesn’t mean there was some good signs. The Toronto Raptors showed poise, and being down 2 with just 50 seconds left were able to tie the game. The crowd got into it, but the Raptors kept their cool. The Portland Trailblazers hit three 3 pointers in a row in the overtime to basically put the nail in the coffin against the Raptors, but this was a valiant effort on the Raptors part. The hot and blazing Atlanta Hawks are just 0.5 a game behind the Raptors for the 1st seed in the Eastern Conference and the Raptors next opponent is the hot and blazing Golden State Warriors, which should also be a fun game. The Atlanta Hawks play the Utah Jazz the same day, which could basically switch the two top teams in the East.
