While the Portland Trail Blazers’ barnburner Wednesday against the New York Knicks amounted to a moral victory within a close loss, Sunday’s home matinee against the Toronto Raptors was the opposite: a moral loss enclosed in a narrow 105-102 victory.
Several key players on the Raptors (now 24-43) dressed in street clothes, so the Blazers got a favorable matchup against Scottie Barnes, Jakob Poeltl and a cast of fringe NBA players. The Blazers responded by seemingly tossing and turning for much of the afternoon about whether they wanted to take care of business or not.