The Toronto Raptors' furious second-half rally fell short on their home floor, going down 114-105 to the Portland Trail Blazers.
After trailing by as many as 34 points, the Raptors clawed their way back and got to within four points in the final two minutes before the Blazers held on, marking the Raptors' fifth loss from their past seven games.
Pascal Siakam led the Raptors with 28 points, while Fred VanVleet added 19 and Gary Trent Jr. 13.
CJ McCollum, Nassir Little, and Anfernee Simons scored 19 points apiece, while Jusuf Nurkic had 11 points and 11 rebounds for his fifth straight double-double for the Blazers, who have now won six of their past eight games.
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Here are some more thoughts at the buzzer...
Slow start proves costly
In the blink of an eye, the Raptors found themselves in a 25-4 hole after just seven minutes, as they couldn't buy a bucket to start the game, missing 14 of their first 15 field-goal attempts.
It didn't get much better as the first half wore on as they connected on just 11-of-48 field-goal attempts to go into the break trailing 64-34 — their lowest-scoring half of the season.
The shot chart paints a tough picture.
“It’s too bad that we had one of those games, to be honest, because I think we’ve played really hard and tough and really focused and all that stuff,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said.
“It was just tough to do everything tonight, we weren’t moving, we weren’t thinking very well early.”
Siakam's big second half
Pascal Siakam came out of the break on a mission after scoring just two points in the opening 24 minutes.
He scored 26 of his 28 points after half-time, almost single-handedly dragging the Raptors back into the contest as he relentlessly attacked the basket, scored out of the post and found his teammates for some timely buckets.
He added eight rebounds, five assists, one steal and one block, shooting 13-of-20 from the field.
Make that 2⃣4⃣ for @pskills43 pic.twitter.com/xJYQT6OOLJ
— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) January 24, 2022
Toronto outscored Portland 71-50 in the second half, including a 30-8 run down the stretch in a complete turnaround, with Siakam putting the team on his back for stretches.
The 27-year-old has made a late surge to claim a spot in the All-Star game with an impressive stretch of play. Across his past 14 games, Siakam is averaging 23.7 points, 9.1 rebounds and 6.9 assists on 49.0 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from the 3-point line.
Empty Scotiabank
Coming home from a five-game road trip, playing in front of full arenas, the Raptors returned to Scotiabank Arena, which is currently operating without ticketed fans.
This was exactly the type of game that the Raptors faithful would have loved and had the building rocking as they launched their comeback, but the quiet surrounds of the empty arena left the Raptors without one of their biggest advantages. Their home crowd.
“It sucks. It sucks. It does. It sucks,” Nick Nurse lamented postgame.
Boucher stays ready
With the Raptors struggling to break down the Blazers zone defence, Chris Boucher was the lone bright spark in the first half, scoring eight of his 11 points in the first quarter to help get the Raptors' offence going.
In 24 minutes off the bench, he finished with 11 points and nine rebounds on 4-of-7 from the field, including 3-of-5 from beyond the arc.
What's next?
The Raptors remain at home to take on the Charlotte Hornets on Tuesday, Jan. 25, before heading off on a three-game road trip. Tip-off against the Hornets is set for 7:00 p.m. ET.
See you then.
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