Portland Trail Blazers guard C.J. McCollum (3) steals the ball away from Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry (7) during the second half during a game at Moda Center.Troy Wayrynen
No matter what city they visit lately, the Toronto Raptors feel right at home.
Kyle Lowry scored 27 points and the Raptors won their franchise-best seventh consecutive road game Monday night with a 95-91 victory over the skidding Portland Trail Blazers.
It was the second stop on Toronto's six-game swing out West, which will take the Raptors (22-8) to tough places such as Golden State and San Antonio.
But home or road these days, Toronto is proving to be a very difficult opponent. Though the Raptors' usually prolific offence was slowed by Portland's trapping defence, they found a way to pull out a highly competitive game in which neither team led by more than six points.
Toronto, which had reached 100 points in 16 straight games, used its defence and gritty play during the final five minutes to win its fourth in a row.
"A few years ago our guys would have kicked that one away by 15 or 20 points," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said.
Toronto ran into a short-handed but extremely motivated Portland team that ultimately lost its sixth straight.
The Blazers (13-20) were without star guard Damian Lillard, who sat out with a sprained ankle. Lillard, averaging 27 points per game, was injured last Friday against San Antonio.
"Dame not playing, that's a big chunk of potential 30-, 40-point game, but they're still a very talented team. It was a tough task for us either way," said Toronto guard DeMar DeRozan, who nearly had his first triple-double of the season with 20 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.
C.J. McCollum scored 27 points to lead the Blazers, who have lost 10 of 11.
Toronto kept Portland's runs to a minimum. The Raptors were particularly effective down the stretch, when they took the lead for good at 82-81 with 5:50 remaining on two free throws by Jonas Valanciunas.
"We got every rebound that came off a long shot, and that gave us an opportunity to keep the game in our favour," DeRozan said. "We knew early on we were missing a lot of easy shots, and that we'd have to rely on our defence. That's what we did."
Toronto, averaging 112 points per game this season, scored only 43 during the first half and had just 22 in the fourth quarter. Portland's blitzing, trapping defence made life difficult for the Raptors. Lowry and DeRozan combined to make 16 of 40 shots.
"Their defensive scheme was unbelievable tonight. Their bigs moved their feet well and I had a couple of turnovers trying to get around them," Lowry said.
Portland coach Terry Stotts said "it might have been our best defensive game of the season. We played with a lot of energy."
Patrick Patterson scored 15 points for Toronto, while Valanciunas had 12 points and 12 rebounds.
Mason Plumlee had his fifth double-double of the season with 13 points and 15 rebounds for Portland.
Neither team could find an offensive rhythm in the first half. Toronto grabbed a 43-42 halftime lead on a free throw by DeRozan with two seconds left in the second quarter. The 43 first-half points given up by Portland tied a season low.
Toronto got it going in the third quarter, hitting seven 3-pointers, but Portland nearly matched the Raptors point for point and trailed 73-68 heading into the fourth.
Toronto finally put the game away at the free throw line, where Cory Joseph and DeRozan made four foul shots in the final 16 seconds.