The visiting Portland Trail Blazers have struggled in the fourth quarter, and Sunday afternoon, that could benefit the Toronto Raptors, who have had two consecutive furious finishes fall short.
The Trail Blazers missed their final 13 shots in a 108-99 road loss to the Indiana Pacers on Friday night.
Toronto also lost on Friday, 112-108 to the New York Knicks, despite rallying from a 16-point deficit with 4:03 to play in the fourth quarter. The Raptors have dropped the first of two games of a six-game homestand on Wednesday after they rallied from a 21-point deficit with 3:50 to play in the game before losing to the Milwaukee Bucks in overtime.
The Trail Blazers have lost seven of their past 10 games and six straight on the road. In their past three defeats, Portland was in a position to win but failed to make key plays late in the game.
Lillard had four points and was 1-for-5 from the field in the fourth quarter on Friday as Portland was outscored 27-17.
Anfernee Simons led Portland with 20 points on Friday but had three points on 1-for-6 shooting from the field in the fourth quarter.
The Raptors have lost three in a row and 11 of their past 14.
Fred VanVleet scored 28 points for the Raptors on Friday and Gary Trent Jr. added 27 points.
There is a sense of a need to win now, however.
Toronto signed forward Joe Wieskamp to a 10-day contract. He averaged 17 points and six rebounds in 13 games with the Wisconsin Herd of the NBA G League.
