Carmelo Anthony’s dagger with 3.3 seconds to play was part of a 28-point performance and lifted the Portland Trail Blazers to a 101-99 victory over the short-handed Raptors on Tuesday.
Kyle Lowry had 24 points and 10 assists for Toronto, while Serge Ibaka finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Oshae Brissett and Chris Boucher chipped in with 12 points apiece.
Damian Lillard had 20 points for Portland.
The Raptors’ depleted lineup wasn’t much of a factor for most of the night against a Blazers team that seemed disinterested on the defensive end. Portland led briefly in the game’s first two minutes but, until the Blazers’ late-game surge, the Raptors dominated for most of the night, assembling a double-digit lead early in the second quarter and maintaining it for most of the evening.