Zach Randolph had 18 points and 11 rebounds and Portland overcame a big game from Carter in an 83-80 victory Tuesday night.
Carter scored 19 of his 33 points in the first half for the Raptors, who shot just 41.4 percent from the field.
"Vince is really tough to guard," said Bonzi Wells, who was assigned to Carter most of the game. "We guarded everybody else."
The Raptors got little scoring other than from Carter. Chris Bosh had 12 points and Michael Curry added 10.
Dale Davis added 10 points and 10 rebounds for Portland. Rasheed Wallace had 11 points and eight rebounds, and Damon Stoudamire scored 12 of his 14 points in the first half.
"It was a grind-it-out game," Blazers coach Maurice Cheeks said. "We're going to be playing these games, just grinding them out."
Portland has won four out of five at home, while the Raptors have lost all three of their road games.
Carter hit a 3-pointer with 6.6 seconds to narrow the lead to 82-80. The Raptors fouled Jeff McInnis, who made one of two free throws. Toronto got the rebound and called timeout with a chance to win, but the final shot went to Lamond Murray, with Carter on the floor as a decoy.
Murray missed a 3-point attempt at the buzzer.
"There is nothing wrong with being a decoy," Carter said. "I got us there and we were one shot away."
The Blazers exploited a considerable size advantage down low. Curry, a 6-foot-5 small forward, was matched up on Wallace, who had a 5-inch advantage. The Blazers outscored the Raptors in the paint, 38-22. Portland outrebounded Toronto 45-29.
CLIPPERS 115, HAWKS 103
At Los Angeles, Quentin Richardson had career highs of 32 points and 16 rebounds for Los Angeles in coach Mike Dunleavy's 400th career victory.
Dunleavy, in his 11th season as an NBA coach and first with the Clippers, became the 30th coach in league history to reach the 400-victory plateau. He's the sixth active coach with 400 wins.
Dunleavy's career record is 400-392. Lenny Wilkens is the leader among coaches in games won with 1,292.
The game was the first for the Clippers at Staples Center this season. They played their first two in Japan against Seattle and lost both, with one designated as a home game. They won their third game at Denver.
Richardson, a fourth-year pro, had previous career bests of 31 points and 12 rebounds.
Corey Maggette added 21 points and Chris Wilcox scored a career-high 19 before fouling out with 2:59 left for the Clippers (2-2), who were below .500 all last season.
Shareef Abdur-Rahim led Atlanta with 23 points. Dion Glover had 22 points and seven rebounds and Stephen Jackson added 17 points for the Hawks, who committed 24 turnovers -- 12 in each half.
KINGS 97, PISTONS 91
The Kings, coming off a 1-3 road trip, overcame a sluggish fourth quarter to beat Detroit for the seventh straight time at Arco Arena and ninth out of 10 as they begin a stretch with 11 of 13 home games, including an eight-game homestand.
Vlade Divac made four straight free throws to make it 88-87 with 3:07 to play and break a three-minute scoreless drought by the Kings, who briefly fell behind for the first time since the opening minutes. They shot 48.1 percent to 39.7 percent by the Pistons.
Bobby Jackson added 16 points and Doug Christie had 14 points and eight rebounds for the Kings, who held Detroit to only nine assists. Three others also scored in double digits for Sacramento.
Corliss Williamson scored at 5:16 to put the Pistons up 85-84 as they fought their way back from a 15-point deficit, but they couldn't hit the big shots down the stretch.
Richard Hamilton had 19 points to lead six players in double figures for Detroit, which began a four-game West Coast swing that includes games at Golden State, the Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix. The Pistons play nine of 13 games away from the Palace of Auburn Hills.
They played without leading rebounder Ben Wallace because of a severely sprained left ankle. Wallace, averaging 11 points and 14.7 rebounds, hurt his ankle Friday against Milwaukee, then reaggravated it Sunday against New Jersey and told coach Larry Brown he was in too much pain to play.
ROCKETS 90, HEAT 70
At Houston, Jeff and Stan Van Gundy finally faced off as basketball coaches, with Jeff's Houston Rockets sending Stan's Miami Heat to their seventh straight loss.
The game was a mere subplot for the main show between the Van Gundys, who joined Herb and Larry Brown as the only brothers to coach against each other in the NBA.
Cuttino Mobley led the Rockets with a season-high 30 points, and Yao Ming blocked a career-high seven shots, and had 16 points and eight rebounds.
Eddie Jones led the Heat with 21 points.
76ERS 112, WIZARDS 105
At Washington, Allen Iverson had a season-high 40 points for Philadelphia, winning a scoring duel with Gilbert Arenas.
Arenas scored a season-high 36 points in a game featuring two of the most exciting guards in the Eastern Conference.
Iverson had more than his share of misses -- 12-for-29 from the field -- but he never stopped shooting, and made 14 of 18 free throws. The 76ers went 24-for-26 from the line in the second half.
Arenas was 11-for-24 from the field, but was just 3-of-11 in the second half and fouled out in the final seconds.
The 76ers played without starters Glenn Robinson (sprained ankle) and Kenny Thomas (bruised back), and Derrick Coleman didn't play the second half because of the strained left knee.
CELTICS 78, PACERS 76
At Indianapolis, Vin Baker hit a fadeaway jumper in the lane with 20 seconds left to lift Boston past Indiana.
Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 19 points, nine assists and six rebounds, and Baker had 12 points and four rebounds.
Jermaine O'Neal had 25 points and 11 rebounds for Indiana. The Pacers lost for the first time in six games to drop to 6-2.