Portland slips past Raptors

TORONTO — Steve Blake knew exactly what to do when he got the ball in a close game Sunday.

Blake drained a go-ahead three-pointer with eight seconds left and the Portland Trail Blazers spoiled Toronto coach Jay Triano's home debut with a 98-97 victory over the Raptors.

LaMarcus Aldridge had 20 points and Blake added 19 for Portland, which has won six of seven. Rudy Fernandez scored 16 points, former Husky Brandon Roy had 15 and Greg Oden had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

"That last play I got the ball and I wanted to be aggressive," Blake said. "They were playing good defense so I just wanted to create something off of their defense."

Roy scored to tie it at 95 with 48 seconds left, but Chris Bosh, his head bandaged after receiving two stitches at halftime to repair a gash on his forehead — thanks to an elbow from Oden — stepped back to sink a 14-foot jumper with 27 seconds to go.

Blake then drained his shot over Jose Calderon, and Bosh missed his final shot.

"We had a lot of rebound attempts and putbacks and it popped out to him," Roy said of Blake. "He took a big shot and he had a lot of pressure on that shot. He showed us what he can do and he makes big shots and we needed that one tonight."

Jermaine O'Neal scored a season-high 24 and blocked six shots and Bosh added 19 points, but it wasn't enough to give Triano his first win after taking over the job last week for fired coach Sam Mitchell.

"This is a tough game when you've been on the road as long as we have," coach Nate McMillan said. "Sometimes your mind is on the plane before the game is over. One thing I've told our guys is let's focus, let's not get our minds on the end of the game and go on home."

Notes

• The New York Knicks were without former Husky Nate Robinson, who reinjured his strained groin in the loss to Atlanta on Friday.

• Detroit played nearly the entire fourth quarter without Richard Hamilton, who was thrown out of the game against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden for the third time in four years. He got a technical foul in the first half, then was called for another and ejected after appearing to give a little shove to Jared Jeffries after fouling him about a minute into the period.

• Detroit expects to have Antonio McDyess back sometime this week. He is now eligible to re-sign after waiting the mandatory 30 days following his trade to Denver in the Allen Iverson deal.