TORONTO- in one night the Toronto Raptors needed the biggest comeback in Franchise history to win, they also could have used a crowd.
Pascal Siakam scored 28 points as the Raptors went from falling behind by 34 points to just four points en route to a 114-105 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday.
And moments after, coach Nick Nurse was complaining about having to play in an empty Scotiabank battleground.
“Boring. It’s crap,” the nurse said. “We’re talking about it. . . we know what the deal will be. We’ll have to try to do it ourselves and we just couldn’t do it tonight. . . it’s really disappointing. True, false or indifferent. Whatever your thoughts, it’s difficult.
“But we’ve been through a lot of difficult things, so we can’t cry about it. We have to play better than we did tonight.”
Fred VanVleet added 19 points and eight assists while Gary trent Jr. had 13 points and OG Anunoby and Chris Boucher chipped in with 11 points apiece for the Raptors (22-22) in their home opener after five straight on the road.
His fatigue manifested itself at the top of the opening.
“We really had a really low energy and usually we try everyone and everyone, moving guys further and trying to find a unit that works, and we couldn’t really do that either,” nurse said.
“The only thing I can say is to give them a heck of a thank you for not stopping.”
Anfernee Simons had 19 points, including two big three-pointers down the stretch for Portland (20-26). C.J. McCollum had 19 points and 10 rebounds, and Nassir Little also had 19 points for the visitors, who were not found both Damian Lillard (abdominal surgery) and former Raptor Norm Powell.
The Raptors went 2-3 on their last trip and finished with a hotly contested 109-105 victory Friday in Washington over a Wizards team in full force.
Two nights after, the Raptors had lost all momentum in an empty Scotiabank battleground due to recent time restrictions in Ontario. Portland took the lead with 25:4. Toronto’s 21-point hole grew to 34 points by the end of the second quarter.
Siakam and VanVleet clung to their teammates and said, “Let’s go, let’s keep fighting,” Siakam said. “Proud of the guys that they kept fighting. I love our action tonight.”
The Raptors went on the defensive in the third quarter-while the dummy crowd “De-fence!”- and Butchers three-pointer with 2:15 left in the quarter capped a 30-16 Toronto run that cut the difference to 14 points. The Blazers led 86-67 with a quarter to play.
The Raptors pushed again and when Rookie Dalano Banton rolled the tire with six minutes left, a 12-0 run was limited to narrow the difference to 12 points.
“That’s it, from the coaching staff to the players, we feel like we never got out of a game until the game was over. So we feel like they’re coming up, we can catch up,” Banton said.
Toronto kept chipping away at the difference, and Trent Jr.’s back-to-back three-pointers. and VanVleet made a four-point play with 1:24 to play.
Simons answered with back-to-back three-pointers to increase Portland’s lead to 10 with 41.2 seconds left, then Little Dunk sealed the win with 12.8 on the clock.
“It’s a shame we had one of those games, to be honest, because I think we played really hard and hard, and really focused, and all that,” Nurse said.
The Raptors’ biggest comeback was 30 points in a 110-107 win over Dallas on Dec. 22.
Powell did not make the trip to Toronto and missed his eighth straight game, first because of the recent time protocol, and then what the team cited as personal reasons.
Nurse and VanVleet had previously said it was unfair for former players to return without the Fans present.
The Ontario government reduced the spectator capacity to 1,000 Fans at the end of December, as recent time cases in the province and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd., have decided to go one step further and not welcome Fans from Dec. 31. Fanless Phase originally three weeks.
The Ontario government announced last week that it is relaxing licensing restrictions on 50 per cent capacity in February. 21, and full capacity on the 14th.
In the first half, there was little joy on Sunday.
VanVleet and Trent Jr., combined for 1-for-14 shooting in a first quarter, Toronto’s shooting saw a terrible 19.2 percent from the field. The Trail Blazers apparently couldn’t miss and shot 54.5 percent from the three-point zone. The blazers led 33-15 to start the second.
The second quarter was no better. The blazers got 11 assists on three-of-five different players in the first half, and McCollum’s Fadeaway jumper a Minute before halftime increased Portland’s lead to 34. The Blazers went into the Break with a 64:34 lead.
The Raptors hosted the Charlotte Hornets on Tuesday, then head on the road for three in a row, to Chicago, Miami and Atlanta.
Tags: points, Portland, Raptors