Game Thread: Toronto Raptors at Portland Trail Blazers

The Toronto Raptors meet up with a team tonight that’s similarly grinding through the first part of their season, as they visit Portland and the 6-8 Blazers.

There’s been a lot of buzz around this Blazers team, mostly at the whim of their star in Damian Lillard. Vocal about needing help improving his supporting cast, Lillard seems in that grey area between wanting to finish his career where it started and demanding a path to the exit door. The start to their season hasn’t made much of a case for the former — there’s some pop in guys like Norm Powell (we know that!) and Anfernee Simons, but in a Western Conference where the door is open, it looks unlikely that Portland is walking through to be a contender.

With all that aside, the Raptors will be shorthanded tonight as they continue a road trip with some nagging injuries. Both Chris Boucher and Precious Achiuwa will be out tonight with a back and shoulder injury, respectively. Fred VanVleet is going to go ahead, though, which means we’ll get quite a lively rotation from the Raps tonight.

Here are all the game details. Now, let’s fix a hot cup of tea and watch.

Where to Watch:

TSN, 10 PM ET

Lineups:

Toronto – Fred VanVleet, Gary Trent Jr., Scottie Barnes, OG Anunoby, Pascal Siakam

Portland – Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, Norman Powell, Robert Covington, Jusuf Nurkić

Injuries:

Toronto — Precious Achiuwa (shoulder – out), Chris Boucher (back – out), Yuta Watanabe (calf – out)

Portland – Greg Brown (ankle - questionable)