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The Portland Trail Blazers and Sacramento Kings engaged in a goal-heavy scuffle on Thursday night, battling face-to-face for 48 minutes in a game where neither could keep a double-digit lead. Portland retained their usual three-point arc advantage, but they ceded the advantage by allowing Sacramento to score like hotcakes in the lane and on the race. But the Blazers had an asset that Sacramento didn’t. Damian Lillard focused on winning as the time slipped in the fourth. The kings could do nothing to stop it. After a long, somewhat messy night, the Blazers claimed a 123-119 victory.
De’Aaron Fox of Sacramento scored 32 in the scrum, Lillard countered with 44 for the Blazers.
First shift
For the second night in a row, the Blazers started with less efficiency in defense. The Kings are not the Golden State Warriors. They couldn’t extend a double-digit lead, mainly because they couldn’t defend themselves either. But Sacramento made the most of the mid-range jumpers and paint points to overtake Portland 10-5. The Blazers kept hitting shots, at least intermittently, but they gave Sacramento easy points in transition and just couldn’t put out the fire. As the period wore on, Enes Kanter became an offensive hub, helping the Blazers bypass the Kings’ smaller formation in half court. Lillard and De’Aaron Fox fought an ongoing battle throughout the period; Dame lit the afterburner, finishing the quarter with 15, Fox with 10. When the dust cleared from ALL of that, Portland led 30-27. Yeah, that was a lot.
Second quarter
Portland’s second unit exploded out of the gate in the second period. Nassir Little started off with a good training, followed by three from Anfernee Simons and later Carmelo Anthony. The bench has become a powerful offensive force. The defense couldn’t keep pace, but Sacramento never managed to string together an extended run. The teams went back and forth until the starters came back. Then they went back and forth again. The Kings attempted the double-team-Lillard defense, but they lacked the auxiliary defenders to make it work. Dame’s teammates scored easily. But every time Portland got an advantage, they gave it back. The Blazers were leading just 59-56 at the half.
Third quarter
The Blazers did exactly what they wanted at the start of the second half. They hit 3 threes and a similar number of layups, with assists on half of their shots. The offensive looked like a greased wheel sliding down a mountain of ice. The separation slipped away once again as they allowed Sacramento to score in transition and rack up paint points. The advantage of analysis collapses when you let the opponent score easily. When the Kings started hitting three, too, Portland’s slim lead evaporated. Portland just kept letting their opponent hang around. Sacramento led 90-89 after three.
Fourth trimester
Both teams played positionless basketball to start the fourth … so by “without position” we mean “without a center” and, in large part, “without a goal”. The first four minutes of the period felt like a seventh-grade scrimmage where groups of people followed the ball at random, with lots of bricks decorating the edges.
After this mess, Fox arrived with buckets for the Kings, pushing their lead to a relatively huge 5 point. Anthony and Rodney Hood again took the lead for the bench, but Portland still couldn’t stop the Kings from staying on ding-dang lane. Sacramento looked good.
But hey, Damian Lillard does NOT go quietly into the night. With the outcome uncertain, he hit a three, punched an immaculate pass to Enes Kanter at the rim and converted a layup pretty much successively. AND THEN he hit three more with 1:56 left to give his team a 4-point lead. AND THEN he emptied another. He would score 10 in the home stretch. Kanter also had a monster effort in defense late in the game. The 1-2 combo was too much for the Kings to handle. The Kings made things interesting with a few late scores and had a chance to equalize on the buzzer, but the Blazers fouled instead of letting them shoot a three. The Kings ended the last free throw game. Portland was the last to laugh in the otherwise pitched battle and walked away with the W.
The score of the box
The Blazers are given a week-long hiatus before resuming the season after the All-Star Break. Stay tuned for Steve Dewald’s analysis of this game in the detailed recap, and join us throughout the weekend for NBA All-Star Game coverage, discussion of trade deadlines and more. again!
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