Raptors Final Score: Rookie Ross Leads Raptors In 102 - 79 Beatdown of Blazers

So, Terrence Ross might have a future in the NBA eh?

Ross had a team-high 26 points on 8 of 14 shooting (6 of 9 from downtown) to lead the Toronto Raptors to a 102 to 79 crushing of the Portland Trailblazers. Ross did it on O and on D, and together with DeMar DeRozan (24 points on 11 of 17 shooting), gave the Blazers' wings fits all night.

Add in another impressive performance from the Raptors' two big-man jumping-jacks, Amir Johnson and Ed Davis, who had 36 points and 14 rebounds combined, and Toronto's point guards, and this one was over pretty quickly.

Hell, the entire team played well from Calderon on down to Quincy Acy, who got five minutes of garbage time and registered a basket, a block, and a technical foul!

Raptors MVP: Terrence Ross

As has been the case of late, you could nominate several players as this again was a team effort. But Ross' three straight bombs from downtown, including a half-time buzzer-beater, seemed to break any resiliency Portland had left.

After that it was all Toronto, and yet Ross kept it coming for good measure.

Raptors LVP: Mickael Pietrus

Pietrus was 0 for 4 in 17 minutes and didn't do much on the night. He wasn't terrible, and was in fact a plus 11 in the box score, but comparatively, he gets the nod tonight.

Comment of the Night: Via defensive rap

I am taking the paper bag off my head

I AM A RAPTORS FAN AND I DON"T CARE WHO KNOWS IT.

Best & Worst Leo/Matt Quotes

Thankfully not too many to choose from although Matt Devlin did try and give credit to the Raptors for the way they handled the Jonas Valanciunas injury. Huh?

Most bizarre moment:

Quincy Acy checks in, misses a great pass, then on an ensuing possession, somehow picks up a technical foul.

We may never know why though because with Toronto up by so many near game end, the whole incident was just kinda glossed over.

Box score!

That does it for this edition but we'll be back again Friday night as the Raptors take on the Sacramento Kings, looking to continue to forge ahead in what's suddenly a legit race for playoff seeding. With their win tonight Toronto is only three games back of both Boston and Philadelphia for the East's final spot in the dance.

But yes, it's January 2nd, so we'll simmer down a bit.

For more coverage from the opponent side of things, make sure you check out Ben Golliver and the crew at BlazersEdge.com!