Raptors-Trail Blazers Preview

By JEFF BARTL
Posted Dec 09 2012 10:05PM

The Portland Trail Blazers' lack of depth has been one of their major downfalls this season, which doesn't bode well with Nicolas Batum and Wesley Matthews nursing injuries.

There's a possibility neither will play Monday night as Portland seeks an eighth straight victory over the visiting Toronto Raptors, who have lost an NBA-high 13 road games.

After a 2-5 road trip, Portland (8-12) returned home and fell 99-80 to Sacramento on Saturday, shooting 38.7 percent and committing 19 turnovers. LaMarcus Aldridge scored a team-high 17 points and added 10 rebounds while J.J. Hickson added 14 points and 15 boards.

"We didn't have a lot of energy and they just outplayed us and beat us," said rookie Damian Lillard, who had 12 points.

Batum scored five points in 17 minutes, but he was clearly bothered by a nagging back strain. Making matters worse, Matthews suffered a left hip contusion and flexor strain in the second half.

After the team's Sunday practice, Batum said he doubted he would be able to play Monday and Matthews wasn't sure the limited improvement of his hip would be enough to be in the lineup.

"You just hope that they're OK. You don't need those two guys out for any time," said Aldridge, who scored 33 points and grabbed a career-high 23 rebounds in a 94-84 win over Toronto in the most recent meeting Jan. 20. "You don't want those guys to have anything serious wrong with them."

That's especially true for a Blazers team that is by far the worst in the league on the bench, getting only 14.9 points from its reserves. Portland's bench hasn't outscored the opposition's once this season.

Lillard said playing without Batum or Matthews - possibly both - puts more pressure on the rest of the regular starters.

"When you have Nic and Wes on the wing, teams have to honor their ability to knock down 3s and their ability to get in the paint and make plays for other guys," Lillard said. "When they went down, it was kind of like every time I got in the paint more attention was on me without them on the floor. Of course it was tough."

The Blazers had won their previous three at home prior to Saturday's defeat. They'll look to get back on track against the struggling Raptors, who have lost the first four of their five-game road trip and fell to 1-13 away from home with a 102-83 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday.

Toronto (4-17), which has dropped 10 of 11 overall, was outscored 25-10 in the fourth quarter.

"It came out of nowhere," said DeMar DeRozan, who scored a game-high 24 points. "We just didn't score and we couldn't get any stops, and they took advantage of it."

General manager Bryan Colangelo met one-on-one with many of the team's players and coaches Saturday night trying to figure out the team's struggles, but nothing helped prevent the Raptors from falling to 0-13 when giving up more than 100 points.

They rank only ahead of Houston defensively, allowing 103.5 per game.

"I thought our defense was on par in the first half until the middle part of the third quarter, when I thought it went south," coach Dwane Casey said. "You've got to do it for 48 minutes."

Aldridge has averaged 28.5 points and 13.8 rebounds in the last four meetings with Toronto, which has lost eight of its last nine trips to Portland.

Aldridge powers Blazers past Raptors 92-74

By ANNE M. PETERSON
Posted Dec 11 2012 1:49AM

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) Injuries, an ejection and a dubious record.

The Portland Trail Blazers' 92-74 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Monday night had a little bit of everything.

Both sides were beset by injuries, with Portland missing starters Wesley Matthews and Nicolas Batum, and Toronto losing starters Andrea Bargnani and Kyle Lowry during the game.

Then Toronto's Amir Johnson punctuated his ejection from the game by throwing his mouthpiece at the official who tossed him.

And finally, the Blazers went 0 for 20 from 3-point range, a new NBA record for futility.

"I don't want to break records like that," said Portland star LaMarcus Aldridge, who had 30 points and 12 rebounds.

J.J. Hickson added 16 points and 11 boards for the Blazers, who led by as many as 18 points in the second half. DeMar DeRozan had 20 points for the Raptors, who have dropped eight straight games against Portland.

But the game was more about who didn't play - or had to leave.

Batum was shelved because of back pain that hampered him in Portland's 99-80 home loss to Sacramento on Saturday, while Matthews was out because he strained his left hip in the fourth quarter against the Kings. Matthews tried to drive to the basket during warmups and limped off to the locker room, wincing.

Matthews missed a game for the first time in his four-year NBA career. He had played in 250 straight games, second-most among active players behind Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook.

To replace Matthews and Batum, the Blazers started Sasha Pavlovic and rookie Victor Claver.

"It felt great to know we could be down a couple of players and still get the win," Hickson said. "We knew we were going to have to play extra hard because we were short-handed, but guys stepped up and we got the win."

The Raptors were hurt late in the first quarter when Bargnani went to the locker room after falling awkwardly on a dunk. The Raptors said later that X-rays on his elbow were negative, but he did not return.

"He landed on his elbow and lost feeling in his hand," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. "We'll have to wait and see tomorrow how it is."

Toronto already was without Linas Kleiza, who has a sore right knee from Sunday night's 102-83 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Blazers pulled ahead 30-24 in the second quarter on Pavlovic's running hook, but the Raptors battled back and tied it at 38 on Ed Davis' putback.

Portland led 44-40 at the break and extended the lead with a 9-0 run capped by Aldridge's hook shot and free throw that made it 58-46 midway through the third quarter.

Lowry did not play in the second half after he hurt his right shoulder in a fall.

"Somebody grabbed his arm and he hit the floor and he just felt he had a knot in his back," Casey said.

The Raptors lost Johnson when he was ejected with 5:01 left in the third quarter. He had words with referee David Jones while trying to take the ball from him following a Portland free throw. After Johnson was ejected, he threw his mouthpiece at Jones and fellow players had to restrain him before he was escorted from the floor.

Johnson said that before free throws, he has a habit of rubbing the ball and then passing it to the ref.

"I guess the ref didn't let me have the ball so we kind of got into a tug of war," he said. "No words were really said and he rejected me out of the game and I kind of lost my cool from there."

Casey said Johnson's actions were completely out of character.

"I don't know what happened with Amir. He kind of lost his mind there for a little bit," the coach said. "I told him we can't have that on a night where we're short-handed and we're in a situation where we're scrambling. We just gotta have more discipline than that."

Pavlovic's fast-break layup put Portland up 79-68 and Hickson extended the lead to 83-68 with an alley-oop dunk from Nolan Smith.

Pavlovic finished 10 points, seven rebounds and five assists in his first start of the season.

"I though Sasha Pavlovic played a terrific game - defensively more than anything else, but he played heavy minutes and I though he did a terrific job defensively and offensively. Obviously, LaMarcus did everything we needed from him," Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. "I thought it was a really good team win. We got a lot of good effort from a lot of people."

NOTES: Stotts and Casey are close friends, having worked together with the Seattle SuperSonics and the Dallas Mavericks. Casey said their familiarity doesn't mean the two aren't competitive. "When we go out on the floor it's like playing your brother. You want to beat him," Casey said. ... It was Aldridge's fourth straight double-double and seventh of the season. ... The Raptors' 74 points are the fewest they've ever scored against the Blazers.

Notebook: Trail Blazers 92, Raptors 74

Kerry Eggers, for NBA.com
Posted Tue Dec 11, 2012 1:35 AM - Updated Tue Dec 11, 2012 1:35 AM

THE FACTS: The Portland Trail Blazers set a league record for futility by going 0-for-20 from beyond the arc Monday night -- and still blew away Toronto 92-74 at the Rose Garden.
The previous NBA mark for 3-point inaccuracy was New York's 0-for-18 shooting in a game against New Jersey in 2010. LaMarcus Aldridge racked up 30 points and 12 rebounds as the Blazers (9-12) rebounded from a 99-80 home loss to Sacramento on Saturday night. J.J. Hickson added 16 points and 11 boards, picking up his 11th double-double of the season. DeMar DeRozan scored 20 points to lead the Raptors (4-18), who dropped their 11th straight road game and 11th in 12 games overall.
QUOTABLE: "I know -- we broke the record. For that record to be broken in a win is even more impressive."

-- Portland coach Terry Stotts on the Blazers setting an NBA record by missing all 20 3-point attempts.
THE STAT: Portland had a huge advantage in points in the paint -- 54-26. Said Stotts: "Is that a misprint→ I'm speechless on that."
TURNING POINT: Portland led 75-68 midway through the fourth quarter when the Blazers ran up eight straight points to put the game on ice.
QUOTABLE II: "Wow. I didn't know that. We didn't make no 3s tonight→ That's crazy. I wish I'd have shot one. I'd have probably made it."

-- Hickson, on the Blazers' 3-point inefficiency
HOT: Hickson shot no 3s but was 7-for-7 on 2-point attempts, scoring 16 points with 11 rebounds for his 11th double-double of the season.
NOT: Victor Claver, Damian Lillard and Luke Babbitt combined to shoot 6-for-35 from the field for Portland, including 0-for-13 on 3-pointers.
GOOD MOVE: Portland sat starting small forward Nicolas Batum to rest his aching back, and still won handily.
BAD MOVE: Amir Johnson got into a beef with referee David Jones in the third quarter and was quickly ejected with a pair of technical fouls. The Toronto forward threw his mouthpiece, hitting Jones in the back, before he was escorted from the floor by teammates and coaches.
QUOTABLE III: "I don't know what happened with Amir. He kind of lost his mind there a little bit."

-- Toronto coach Dwane Casey
NOTABLE: By the end of the game, five starters were missing from the team's lineups of the previous game due to injuries -- Batum and Wesley Matthews of Portland and Linas Kleiza of Toronto, who all sat out the game, and the Raptors' Andrea Bargnani and Kyle Lowry, who both went out during the game. Matthews missed the first game of his career after playing in 250 straight in his 3 1/2 NBA seasons.
UP NEXT: For the Raptors, Wednesday vs. Brooklyn, Friday vs. Dallas, Sunday vs. Houston. For the Trail Blazers, Thursday vs. San Antonio, Sunday vs. New Orleans, Dec. 20 vs. Denver.

• Raptors: Acy, Anderson, Fields
• Trail Blazers: Batum, Williams

• Raptors: Johnson
• Trail Blazers: --

• Lead Changes: 8
• Times Tied: 6

• Arena: Rose Garden, Portland, OR
• Officials: #36 David Jones, #71 Rodney Mott, #60 James Williams
• Attendance: 16863
• Duration: 2:08