NBA: Precious Achiuwa career-high powers Raptors past Blazers

Precious Achiuwa scored a career-high 27 points while Pascal Siakam scored 24 points and Gary Trent Jr. had 19 points as the Raptors beat Blazers 123-105.

Precious Achiuwa (#5) of the Toronto Raptors drives to the basket during the NBA game against the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday at the Moda Center Arena in Portland, Oregon. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

Precious Achiuwa scored a career-high 27 points on 11-of-16 shooting and collected 13 rebounds to lead the Toronto Raptors to a 123-105 victory over the host Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday night.

Pascal Siakam scored 24 points and Gary Trent Jr. had 19 points against his former team. Scottie Barnes contributed 18 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists as Toronto improved to 2-1 on a season-high, seven-game road trip.

Fred VanVleet had 11 points, nine assists and four steals, and Chris Boucher scored 10 for the Raptors, who were 17 of 18 (94.4 percent) from the free-throw line.

Precious Achiuwa dropped a career-high 27 PTS and 13 REB in the Raptors W 💪 pic.twitter.com/gvyl6MhSjB

— NBA (@NBA) January 29, 2023

Damian Lillard scored 30 points and Jerami Grant added 26 points and eight rebounds for the Trail Blazers, who had a two-game winning streak snapped. Anfernee Simons put up 14 points for Portland.

The Raptors shot 52.2 percent from the field, including 10 of 30 from 3-point range. OG Anunoby (wrist) sat out for Toronto.

Portland made 52.6 percent of its shots, hit 7 of 24 (29.2 percent) from behind the arc and sank 18 of 23 (78.3 percent) from the free-throw line. The Trail Blazers played without Jusuf Nurkic (calf) and Josh Hart (hamstring).

The Raptors had a 45-27 rebounding advantage.

Portland trailed by as many as 23 in the opening quarter but got back into the game with 83.3 percent shooting (15 of 18) in a 39-point third quarter.

The Raptors led 76-59 after Trent’s three-point play with 6:52 left in the period. However, Portland moved within 85-77 on Grant’s two free throws with 1:12 remaining and eventually 88-83 on Simons’ layup as time expired in the quarter.

Lillard’s 3-pointer pulled Portland within 94-90 with 8:41 left before the Raptors regained control with a 14-0 run. Siakam capped the surge with a basket to make it 108-90 with 4:54 left.

The Trail Blazers were not able to make another run.

Achiuwa had 16 points and 10 rebounds in the first half as the Raptors took a 63-44 lead.

Toronto was hot at the outset, jumping out to a 19-5 lead in the first 5:20. The advantage grew to 30-7 before Portland scored seven straight. However, the Raptors answered with seven of their own to lead 37-14 at the end of the period.

Portland pulled with 51-39 on Little’s trey with 4:11 left in the half before Toronto built the lead back to 19 entering the break.