• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Roy takes over as Blazers top Raptors

Dec 28, 2008 - 6:48 AM PORTLAND, Oregon (Ticker) -- With the game on the line, Brandon Roy did what he has done all season for the Portland Trail Blazers - he stepped up when they needed him most.

Roy scored 18 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter as the Trail Blazers posted a 102-89 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Saturday.

LaMarcus Aldridge added 21 points and Greg Oden had 16 and 10 rebounds for Portland, which shot 57 percent (20-of-35) in the second half.

Roy went 7-of-7 in the final quarter and finished 14-of-19 from the field, while adding nine assists. It was his fifth 30-point game in the month of December.

"I felt I played a bad fourth quarter on Christmas (against Dallas)," Roy said. "I was disappointed with myself. I just said I was going to make up for it tonight. I was able to hit some shots early which gave me a good rhythm."

With Portland leading by two points early in the fourth, Roy scored back-to-back baskets before assisting on a pair of Aldridge jumpers from the top of the key, giving Portland an 84-74 lead with 6:01 remaining.

"We were a little surprised that they didn't come with a double-team (on Roy)," Blazers coach Nate McMillan said. "We talked about it at one of the timeouts but apparently they didn't use it."

Jamario Moon ended the run with a tip-in, but Roy answered with a 3-pointer and another long jumper to give the Blazers their biggest bulge, 89-76, with 4:37 left to play.

The Raptors, who were coming off a win at Sacramento on Friday, never got closer than eight the rest of the way.

"We did overplay some guys last night to get a victory, but the energy we had in the first half, we should be able to carry that over into the second," Raptors coach Jay Triano said. "I don't think it was energy. I think it was mainly that their good players played very well.

"It's not like every time you lose you need to find an excuse for why you lost the game. It was a good basketball game and they played better."

Toronto held a two-point lead after the first quarter and pushed the lead to 55-44 late in the second. Chris Bosh had 17 points as the Raptors shot 52 percent (23-of-44) in the first half, taking a 57-49 advantage into the locker rooms.

The Blazers shored up their defense in the second half, limiting the Raptors to 10 points and 17 percent shooting (4-of-23) in the third quarter to take a 69-67 lead into the fourth.

"We didn't really make adjustments. We just finally started making them miss shots," Roy said. "I think nobody was disappointed at halftime. Coach said we were working hard. They were just making shots. So the second half we got closer to them (on defense), forced shots and we were able to get the lead and keep it. They wore down."

Bosh paced the Raptors with 29 points and Jermaine O'Neal added 17.