Field Level Media
Oct 26, 2019
Damian Lillard scored 13 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Portland Trail Blazers to a 122-112 victory over the host Sacramento Kings on Friday night.
Hassan Whiteside scored 22 points on 9-of-10 shooting and collected nine rebounds as Portland evened its record at 1-1. CJ McCollum added 19 points, and Anfernee Simons scored 15 off the bench for the Trail Blazers.
De'Aaron Fox recorded 28 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Kings (0-2). Buddy Hield scored 21 points, Bogdan Bogdanovic added 16 off the bench, Harrison Barnes tallied 13 and reserve Richaun Holmes had 10.
The Kings played without second-year power forward Marvin Bagley III, who broke his right thumb in Wednesday's season-opening loss to the Phoenix Suns.
Portland shot 54.1 percent from the field and made 11 of 30 3-point attempts.
The Kings shot 42.5 percent, including 15 of 37 from behind the arc. Hield and Bogdanovic each made four 3-pointers.
Sacramento was within 102-97 after Fox made two free throws with 6:46 left.
Portland began to pull away, though, as Zach Collins hit two free throws, and Lillard added a layup and a 3-pointer to make it 109-97 with 5:51 remaining.
Lillard connected on a 31-foot 3-pointer to make it 112-100 with 5:07 left. A short time later, McCollum scored five straight points to push the lead to 119-104 with 3:27 remaining, and the Trail Blazers cruised to the finish.
Portland scored the first 12 points of the second half, with McCollum sinking a 20-footer to give the Trail Blazers a 69-57 lead.
The lead was again 12 after Rodney Hood's 20-footer with 7:37 left, but Sacramento answered with a 13-2 surge to move within 75-74 on a dunk by Holmes with 5:21 remaining.
Later in the stanza, Portland rattled off 11 straight points to open a 90-76 advantage with 1:48 left. Barnes drained a 3-pointer from the right corner with 37.1 seconds left as the Kings trailed 94-84 entering the final quarter.
The contest was tied at 57 at the break, with Lillard scoring 14 for Portland and Fox having the same amount for the Kings.
--Field Level Media