It’s been over a decade since the Toronto Raptors paid their Manitoba fans a visit, but the long wait came to an end Monday night as the Raptors hosted the Portland Trail Blazers at the MTS Centre October 24th.

For 11,000 local basketball fans, downtown Winnipeg was the place to be as Canada’s lone NBA team and Portland’s resident hoopsters met at the continental midpoint for an important pre-season game.

For the Raptors, the MTS Centre game was their last in Canada before wrapping up the pre-season in Portland on October 26th. In their six previous exhibition games, the Raptors posted two wins and four losses, including a 103-105 loss against Isreal’s Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Euroleague October 16th in Toronto.

Unfortunately for the Raptors, their MTS Centre effort wasn’t enough for the win as they dropped a 104-98 decision to Portland. Despite winning the opening tip-off and taking an early lead, Toronto lost ground to Portland in the second quarter and played catch-up through to the final buzzer.

To begin the fourth quarter, Portland led by 13 points with Toronto trying desperately to make ground. Toronto made a few late runs but were ultimately unable to catch the Trail Blazers.

The Raptors’ Jalen Rose had 21 points to lead all scorers, with Darius Miles of the Trail Blazers a close second with 20 points.

For both teams, the regular season kicks off November 2nd when the Raptors tackle the Wizards in Washington and the Trail Blazers take on the Timberwolves in Minnesota.

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