Carmelo Caps Rally With Game-Winner In Toronto

TORONTO -- The Trail Blazers held the lead for only 17.3 seconds Tuesday night versus the Raptors in Toronto, but that ended up being long enough.

In the fourth game of a five-game road trip, Portland rallied from a double-digit fourth-quarter deficit to set the stage for a Carmelo Anthony game-winning jumper with 3.3 seconds to play to lift the Trail Blazers to a 101-99 victory versus the Raptors in front of a sellout crowd of 19,800 Tuesday night at Scotiabank Arena.

"I was really proud the way our team competed tonight, particularly in the fourth quarter," said Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts. "We’ve had our struggles defensively in the fourth quarter throughout the season but tonight, to hold them to 21 points and only give up one offensive rebound in the fourth quarter, and the way we competed being down 12 in the quarter, I was really proud the way we played."

The Trail Blazers are now 16-22 overall, 8-13 away from the Moda Center and 2-2 on a five-game trip that ends Thursday night versus the Timberwolves in Minneapolis.

There was little to no indication that the Trail Blazers would come away with the win through the first three quarters of Tuesday night's game against a Raptors team playing without the likes of Pascal Siakam, Marc Gasol and Fred VanVleet. After taking their first lead at 4-3 on an Anthony jumper with less than a minute and a half into the game, Portland trailed for roughly the next 46 minutes of the 48-minute affair.

And at times, it wasn't especially close. Toronto led by nine going into the second quarter, 10 going into the half and took their largest lead of the night at 14 in the third quarter before entering the fourth with a nine-point advantage. The Raptors dominated the boards -- they finished the game with 17 offensive rebounds, 10 more than the Blazers -- and held Portland to under 40 percent shooting through three quarters while generally keeping the visitors at arm's length.

Even in the early going of the fourth, it seemed as though the Raptors, while not having an easy time of it, would be able to do just enough, as they had done in the first three quarters, to ride out a home win. After Toronto forward Chris Boucher scored seven-straight to give the home team a 12-point lead with 8:20 to play, there was even less reason to assume the end of the game would be appreciably different than the beginning and middle.

But the Blazers stuck with it by getting serious on defense and leaning on Damian Lillard and Anthony on offense. Portland managed to chip away at the lead, getting it down to four with an Anthony three-pointer with 5:19 to play, though the Raptors would answer with their own three, as they seemed to do most of the night, to push the advantage to 93-86 with just over five minutes to play.

After trading baskets for the next minute, the Trail Blazers would finish the game out on a 13-4 run, with Lillard and Anthony combining for all 13 Portland points. While Anthony had it going for most of the game, the fourth was a switch for Lillard, who had just nine points on 2-of-7 shooting going into the fourth.

“I just played from further out,” said Lillard of his fourth-quarter performance. “I didn’t want to force it and play in a crowd. I had to change my pace, get the screen set higher. And we also got stops so we weren’t playing against a set defense.”

Lillard looking for longer shots worked, with the 6-3 guard getting open off a Hassan Whiteside pick for a 35-foot three-pointer that tied the game any 99-99 with 38.5 seconds to play. Whiteside blocked a Rondae Hollis-Jefferson attempt on the next possession, with the referees calling for a jump ball, which the Raptors won with 28.1 seconds to play.

Portland's game-long inability to thwart Toronto's second-chance opportunities almost cost them the game, with the Raptors getting their final offensive rebound of the game after a missed Kyle Lowry floater with 20 seconds to play. But Pat McCaw would lose the ball out of bounds with 13.6 seconds to play, setting the stage for the eventual game-winner.

After calling time, Portland advanced the ball to half court, with Anthony inbounding the ball to McCollum. The play was supposed to go to Lillard, but with his reputation for late-hame heroics, the Raptors were ready.

"The play was to get the ball to Dame, but they doubled Dame on the inbounds," said Stotts. "CJ broke open, made a good read to Melo, and that was just playing basketball. But the inbounds play to get the ball to Dame but they took him out."

Though Anthony was more than up to the challenge. The veteran forward received the ball from McCollum at the top of the three-point line, drove past a hard closeout from OG Anunoby, get to the free throw line and raised up for the shot, that rattling on off the back of the rim with 3.3 seconds to play, giving Portland their first lead since that 4-3 advantage early in the first quarter.

"Once (McCollum) kicked it out to me, I saw the defender close out on my right side , kind of gave me the whole left side to get to my spot," said Anthony. "That shot is something that I work on day in and day out... I felt good, just wanted to get the release right, and I did."

The Raptors had a chance to tie or win the game, but Lowry's three as time expired was well off, giving the Blazers the win and a chance to finish the five-game trip better than .500.

"It could be huge, especially against a really good team on the road," said Lillard. "I think the way we did it, you know, we gave up 22 in the third, 31 in the fourth, we defended, we started to limit their second chances. I think they had one offensive rebound down the stretch. I think the way we did it is the style that we need to be able to win more games, so I think this could be one of those games that officially gets us going in the right direction. Hopefully it is."

Anthony led all scorers with 28 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the field and 5-of-8 shooting from three while adding seven rebounds, two steals and an assist in 35 minutes.

Lillard finished with 20 points, with 11 off those coming in the fourth quarter, while also tallying nine assists, four rebounds and two steals. CJ McCollum, who sat out Sunday's loss to the Heat with an upper respiratory illness, went for 10 points, six assists and five ere bounds.

Hassan Whiteside added another double-double to his season tally with 14 points and 16 rebounds while also logging seven blocks and four assists. Anfernee Simons came off the bench for 12 points.

Lowry led the Raptors with 24 points and 10 assists in 38 minutes. Serge Ibaka also had a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds and both Oshae Brissett and Chris Boucher came off the bench to contribute 12 points.

Next up, Portland finishes a five-game trip with their first game this season versus the Timberwolves in Minnesota. Tipoff is scheduled for Thursday at 5 p.m.