{"id":293814,"date":"2025-10-11T05:06:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T05:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/293814\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T05:06:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T05:06:14","slug":"trail-blazers-hold-on-to-beat-sacramento-kings-rapid-reaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/293814\/","title":{"rendered":"Trail Blazers hold on to beat Sacramento Kings: Rapid Reaction"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Portland Trail Blazers<\/a> had another impressive offensive preseason performance. But this time, they also earned a win. <\/p>\n

The Blazers defeated the Sacramento Kings<\/a> 124-123 Friday night at the Moda Center, earning their first exhibition win in their first home game of the exhibition season.<\/p>\n

The Blazers (1-1) didn\u2019t erupt for 73 first-half points or put on a three-point shooting clinic like they did in a loss to the Warriors earlier in the week. But with a Yang Hansen awakening, a Jrue Holiday rebound performance, scoring from up and down the roster, they delivered plenty of highlights in a game that went down to the wire. <\/p>\n

And Caleb Love made sure it would end with a win, sinking 1 of 2 free throws with 0.6 seconds left to save the Blazers, who nearly squandered a 13-point fourth-quarter lead.<\/p>\n

TOP PERFORMERS<\/b><\/p>\n

Yang Hansen put on a show (see below), Jerami Grant scored 18 points off the bench, Shaedon Sharpe recorded 17 points and six rebounds, and Deni Avdija added 15 points, six rebounds and two assists. But the Blazers had contributions up and down the roster, as seven different players reached double-figures in scoring.<\/p>\n

Zach LaVine was an early-game menace, scoring 16 of his 19 points in the first half, while Dario Saric added 14 points and four three-pointers, and DeMar DeRozan scored 10 points in 23 minutes for the Kings. <\/p>\n

A HANSEN TO REMEMBER<\/b><\/p>\n

If Hansen had a night to forget in San Francisco, he had a debut to remember at the Moda Center. <\/p>\n

The rookie center from China put on a show in the third quarter Friday night, unleashing a bombardment of three-pointers, blocks, nifty drives and fun. And the crowd ate it up. <\/p>\n

Hansen entered the game with 6:03 left in the period and wasted little time delivering highlights. Fifty-one seconds later, he swished a three in front of the Kings\u2019 bench, then nailed another long-range shot 22 seconds after that. <\/p>\n

Before you knew it, the Moda Center was going berserk. He went on to produce 14 points, two rebounds, one assist and one block in a dazzling quarter that proved to be a polar opposite from his discouraging exhibition opener. The biggest cheers came on the most impressive play, a jaw-dropping driving layup around Drew Eubanks with 3:27 left. <\/p>\n

Hansen started the highlight by faking a three at the top of the perimeter, then went to work. He breezed around Eubanks with a behind-the-back dribble, used a spin move to get into the lane, then completed the pretty move with a layup off the glass. It gave the Blazers an 89-81 lead and sent the crowd into a frenzy.<\/p>\n

Hansen finished with 16 points, four rebounds, three blocks and one assist, while making 5 of 8 shots, including 2 of 3 three-pointers. <\/p>\n

A HOLIDAY REBOUND<\/b><\/p>\n

After a frigid exhibition opener, Holiday rebounded with a solid Moda Center debut, offering a mix of solid shooting, playmaking and savvy. <\/p>\n

His night had an ominous start \u2014 Holiday missed a pair of shots to open the game and the Kings streaked to an early 7-0 lead \u2014 but he quickly recovered. Holiday scored the Blazers\u2019 first field goal by swishing a three-pointer and finished the opening period with 10 points as the Blazers built a 37-31 lead. The two-time All-Star went on to play 22 minutes, finishing with 12 points, three assists and one steal, while making 5 of 10 shots, including 2 of 5 threes. <\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t a perfect performance, but it was a taste of what the Blazers hope he will bring to their young roster. And it was an about-face from the opener, during which Holiday made just 1 of 5 shots and scored four points. <\/p>\n

Starting lineup No. 2<\/b><\/p>\n

After going with Holiday, Sharpe, Grant, Toumani Camara and Donvan Clingan, coach Chauncey Billups backed up his pledge to employ a different starting lineup in every exhibition game. <\/p>\n

The Blazers coach inserted Avdija into his second lineup, using him alongside Holiday, Sharpe, Camara and Clingan. Billups tinkered with lineups from there, playing 10 Blazers in the first half. And then, at the start of the second half, Billups went in a different direction, sitting Camara in favor of Grant. <\/p>\n

HOT START TO SECOND HALF<\/b><\/p>\n

After limping into the locker room with a 64-58 deficit, the Blazers opened the third quarter with one of their most impressive surges in the first two games of the exhibition season. <\/p>\n

With a mix of solid defense, electric playmaking and pretty shooting, the Blazers opened the third quarter with a 13-0 run. <\/p>\n

Sharpe started the scoring barrage with a layup and 13-foot jumper, Grant kept it going with a dunk, and things only gathered steam from there. Sharpe corralled a defensive rebound and sprinted the other way, completing the series with a pull-up three in transition. Grant added a pair of free throws. And then Avdija finished the entertaining run with a tough layup in traffic. <\/p>\n

And just like that, the Blazers had snatched a 71-64 lead over the Kings. Portland ended the third with a 95-91 edge, pushed it 104-91 in the fourth with their end-of-the-bench players, then had to hold off a fourth-quarter rally from the Kings\u2019 backups.<\/p>\n

Next up<\/b><\/p>\n

The Blazers host the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Moda Center. Golden State defeated the Blazers 129-123 in their exhibition opener. <\/p>\n

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Portland Trail Blazers had another impressive offensive preseason performance. But this time, they also earned a win.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":293815,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[1339,1260,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-293814","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115353798937656411","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}