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Bench Warmer
LaMarcus Aldridge scored 20 points, Steve Blake had 19 that included a 3-pointer with 9 seconds left, and the Portland Trail Blazers spoiled Toronto coach Jay Triano's home debut with a 98-97 victory over the Raptors on Sunday.
Jermaine O'Neal scored a season-high 24 points along with six blocked shots, while Chris Bosh added 19, but it wasn't enough to give Triano his first win as the Raptors lost their fourth straight game.
A basket by Brandon Roy pulled the Blazers even at 95-95 with 49 seconds left, but Bosh stepped back to sink a 14-foot jumper with 27 seconds to go.
Then Blake drained his 3 over Jose Calderon, and Bosh missed his final shot.
Calderon added 15 points and 13 assists for Toronto, while Joey Graham and Jason Kapono had 10 points apiece off the bench.
The Raptors led by as many as 16 points early in the second quarter, but the Blazers battled back to lead by 10 early in the fourth quarter.
The Raptors found another gear in front of an energetic crowd at the Air Canada Centre and a long jumper by Kapono capped a 17-2 Raptors' run that put them up by five points with 3:41 left on the clock.
The Raptors shot 49 percent from the floor but were outrebounded 48-31.
The 50-year-old Triano, a former longtime Canadian national team player and coach, became the NBA's first Canadian head coach on Wednesday when he was named Sam Mitchell's replacement on an interim basis that's expected to last the remainder of the season.
The native of Niagara Falls, Ontario, wants to get the Raptors running more, and the pace of the game, especially in the opening 12 minutes, was noticeably quicker.
Triano hollered "Go, go, go!" from the moment Calderon had the ball, and by the time the point guard sat down for a breather with a couple of minutes to go in the first quarter he was dripping with sweat.
Mitchell was fired the morning after a horrible 39-point loss to Denver, less than 20 months after he earned NBA coach of the year honors.
Triano did coach one game last season -- a Raptors' victory over the New Jersey Nets -- when Mitchell was away on a family matter, but the victory went on Mitchell's record.
Triano shrugged off the significance of Sunday's game. While his sister Jody attended, he told his mother and father, who's recovering from an Oct. 29 stroke, not to make the trip.
"For us it's another game," Triano said before the game. "We prepared the same way as we did for the Jazz game [a 114-87 loss Friday in Triano's debut]. It's going to take a little bit of time to get to where we want to get to, and [my parents will] see lots of games."
The Raptors sprinted out to an 11-point lead midway through the first quarter, holding the Blazers to just 20 percent shooting in that span. A dunk by Graham stretched their lead to 12 and Toronto went into the second quarter up 21-20. The Raptors took a 16-point lead less than two minutes into the second, but Portland outscored Toronto 28-14 to the end of the half and the Raptors were up 50-48 at the break.
Blake drained a 3 early in the third quarter to give the Blazers their first lead since the beginning of the game. Portland stretched its lead to 10 points with five minutes left in the quarter, but Toronto used a 12-2 run to tie the game and trailed Portland 78-75 at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
Jermaine O'Neal scored a season-high 24 points along with six blocked shots, while Chris Bosh added 19, but it wasn't enough to give Triano his first win as the Raptors lost their fourth straight game.
A basket by Brandon Roy pulled the Blazers even at 95-95 with 49 seconds left, but Bosh stepped back to sink a 14-foot jumper with 27 seconds to go.
Then Blake drained his 3 over Jose Calderon, and Bosh missed his final shot.
Calderon added 15 points and 13 assists for Toronto, while Joey Graham and Jason Kapono had 10 points apiece off the bench.
The Raptors led by as many as 16 points early in the second quarter, but the Blazers battled back to lead by 10 early in the fourth quarter.
The Raptors found another gear in front of an energetic crowd at the Air Canada Centre and a long jumper by Kapono capped a 17-2 Raptors' run that put them up by five points with 3:41 left on the clock.
The Raptors shot 49 percent from the floor but were outrebounded 48-31.
The 50-year-old Triano, a former longtime Canadian national team player and coach, became the NBA's first Canadian head coach on Wednesday when he was named Sam Mitchell's replacement on an interim basis that's expected to last the remainder of the season.
The native of Niagara Falls, Ontario, wants to get the Raptors running more, and the pace of the game, especially in the opening 12 minutes, was noticeably quicker.
Triano hollered "Go, go, go!" from the moment Calderon had the ball, and by the time the point guard sat down for a breather with a couple of minutes to go in the first quarter he was dripping with sweat.
Mitchell was fired the morning after a horrible 39-point loss to Denver, less than 20 months after he earned NBA coach of the year honors.
Triano did coach one game last season -- a Raptors' victory over the New Jersey Nets -- when Mitchell was away on a family matter, but the victory went on Mitchell's record.
Triano shrugged off the significance of Sunday's game. While his sister Jody attended, he told his mother and father, who's recovering from an Oct. 29 stroke, not to make the trip.
"For us it's another game," Triano said before the game. "We prepared the same way as we did for the Jazz game [a 114-87 loss Friday in Triano's debut]. It's going to take a little bit of time to get to where we want to get to, and [my parents will] see lots of games."
The Raptors sprinted out to an 11-point lead midway through the first quarter, holding the Blazers to just 20 percent shooting in that span. A dunk by Graham stretched their lead to 12 and Toronto went into the second quarter up 21-20. The Raptors took a 16-point lead less than two minutes into the second, but Portland outscored Toronto 28-14 to the end of the half and the Raptors were up 50-48 at the break.
Blake drained a 3 early in the third quarter to give the Blazers their first lead since the beginning of the game. Portland stretched its lead to 10 points with five minutes left in the quarter, but Toronto used a 12-2 run to tie the game and trailed Portland 78-75 at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
