The Portland Trail Blazers made easy work of the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night, cruising to a 110-98 win to move to 3-0 in the preseason.
The Kings, however, were without some key names, including Zach Lavine, Domantas Sabonis, Darius Acuff Jr., De’Andre Hunter, Malik Monk and Ben Simmons. Nevertheless, Portland kept rolling, notably outscoring Sacramento by double-digits in three of the four quarters.
All 15 Blazers saw the court. Deni Avdija totaled 26 points, nine rebounds and four assists, shooting 69.2 percent from the field (9-for-13) and recording just a single turnover. Damian Lillard finished with 14 points, four rebounds, three assists and zero turnovers, boasting a game-high plus/minus of +32.
Ja Morant had his best preseason effort with 14 points, two rebounds, six assists, zero turnovers and one steal, shooting 4-for-6 from the field and making 6 of 9 free throws. Jrue Holiday shot poor, but still managed 11 points, five rebounds and two assists. Toumani Camara had an efficient shooting night, finishing with 11 points, seven rebounds two assists and one steal.
Scoot Henderson cooled down a bit from his previous two outings, finishing with nine points and four assists on 3-for-9 overall shooting and 2-for-5 from the perimeter. In the frontcourt, Donovan Clingan scored four points to go along with his four rebounds, two assists and five (!) blocked shots. Robert Williams III added nine points and eight rebounds.
Overall, Portland didn’t have the best shooting night, logging a 44.8 percent field goal percentage paired with a 25 percent (11-for-44) outing from beyond the arc. The Blazers were also out-muscled on the offensive glass, allowing 17 offensive rebounds while pulling down just nine of their own. They also had 14 turnovers to Sacramento’s 12.
Beyond the eight names mentioned above, the rest of the Blazers didn’t offer much in terms of production, with everybody outside of Vit Krejci, who went 0-for-3 from three, sitting negative in the plus/minus category.
Considering Portland head coach Micah Nori’s dismay at allowing over 30 extra possessions (opposing offensive rebounds + team turnovers) against the Golden State Warriors on Oct. 7, the 29 extra chances aren’t likely to sit well with him. Especially when you consider the players out there for the Kings, many of whom are fighting for roster spots or fringe minutes on the rotation.
One area the Blazers did overwhelmingly control, however, was the paint, outscoring Sacramento 54-22.
Seven Kings reached double-figures in scoring, led by a 15-point performance by Jonathan Mogbo. Portland held Sacramento to a dismal 33.3 percent from the field and 34.2 percent from 3-point range.
Portland closes its preseason against the Warriors on the road on Oct. 16.
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