Blazers travel to Toronto in search of fifth straight win
By Dayton Brown
A three game, Northeast road trip begins tomorrow evening as the rollin’ Blazers face the red hot Raptors.
Surrounded by trade rumors as the deadline approaches, you’d expect the sixth youngest team in the league to trip up. That’s not the case for the Portland Trail Blazers, as last night’s victory over Chicago gave the team their first four-game winning streak of the season.
However, their streak has been a fairly easy road and the true test comes with this road trip. The first game starts Friday at 4:30 p.m. PT against the Toronto Raptors, one of the best teams in the league.
The Raptors have won five of their last seven, not including tonight’s matchup against the depleted and underperforming Washington Wizards. They are currently 34-15, second in the Eastern Conference and just 1.5 games back on Boston.
CJ McCollum, is coming off a career-high 50-point outing in Portland’s dominating win over the Bulls. Friday will be, as this matchup usually is, a battle of backcourts.
The Blazers come into the game at 29-22, sixth in the Western Conference and just 1.5 games out of fourth place.
Starting lineups
Blazers
This small yet lengthy lineup has been kind to the Blazers. Besides Evan Turner’s missed game against the Clippers earlier this week, the starters have been the same on this win streak.
This lineup is also the main reason Portland is able to out-rebound opponents so often, which will be important against the Raptors.
PG: Damian Lillard | SG: CJ McCollum | SF: Evan Turner | PF: Al-Farouq Aminu | C: Jusuf Nurkić
Raptors
Despite being known for having veteran players excel, the Raptors are one of the youngest teams in the league. Their starting small forward is rookie OG Anunoby out of Indiana University.
Toronto’s bench is also top in the league, led by young guys such as Delon Wright (8.5 points and 3 rebounds per game).
PG: Kyle Lowry | SG: DeMar DeRozan | SF: OG Anunoby | PF: Serge Ibaka | C: Jonas Valanciunas
Players to watch
CJ McCollum
How will McCollum play after his amazing performance on Wednesday?
Many players have came out flat or were locked down by the opposing team in games following large scoring production. That’s why it’s so rare to see back-to-back 40+ point games, or even 30+ point games.
The Raptors, one of the best defensive teams in the NBA, will surely look to lockdown McCollum throughout the game. Will that open the door for another Blazer to go off? Or will McCollum overcome the suffocating defense and have yet another monster night?
Next: Should the Blazers look into signing Greg Monroe?
Fred VanVleet
The undrafted, second-year guard out of Wichita State has stepped up this season for the Raptors. He’s already played in ten more games this season than all of last, where he was in-and-out of the G-League. His minutes have over doubled (7.9 per game to 18.1) – so has his production. VanVleet is averaging nearly 8 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 1 steal per game thus far this season.
VanVleet could be the surprising spark off the bench that tears into Portland’s biggest weakness. The team has been notorious for poor perimeter defense. We witnessed just how harmful that could be for Portland in their last loss against Denver. Jamal Murray scored 38 points in 34 minutes on 14/19 shooting, 4/6 from deep. VanVleet may not exactly mirror that performance, but keep your eyes peeled for a possible outburst off the bench.