The Portland Trail Blazers had more than a week to study and dissect their embarrassing 126-94 preseason loss at Sacramento earlier this month.
Blazers coach Chauncey Billups insisted that his team had learned from that game and would be better prepared to face the Kings again on Wednesday in a season-opening matchup at the Golden 1 Center.
Billups turned out to be spot on. The Blazers looked like a completely different team in a 115-108 win.
The Blazers looked considerably better on defense, even though the Kings shot 45.9% from the field, including 38.6% from three-point range. For the most part, Portland closed out well on shooters and forced the Kings to earn their points the hard way — unlike in the preseason meeting.
“I thought it was good,” Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said of his team’s defense. “I really did. Going small and switching everything hurt their rhythm.”
Offensively, the Blazers won despite a poor shooting night from Damian Lillard, who made just 5 of 18 field goals, including 1 of 8 threes. But he still managed to finish with 20 points, eight assists and four rebounds, while making all nine of his free throw attempts.
Jerami Grant led the Blazers with 23 points and eight rebounds, while Anfernee Simons added 22 points.
The Blazers shot 44.3% from the field, including 39.3% from three-point range.
WHAT IT MEANS
It was just the first game of the season and the Kings (0-1) are unlikely to be contenders in the deep Western Conference, but the Blazers (1-0) absolutely looked like a different team than what they showed during a 1-4 preseason.
IT WAS OVER WHEN
The Blazers trailed 106-105 with under a minute remaining before scoring six consecutive points to go up 111-106. Portland’s defense was the difference.
SHAEDON SHARPE
The rookie somewhat surprisingly entered the game in the first quarter with 3:37 remaining in the first quarter. He shift lasted nine minutes and he contributed nine points on 3-of-4 shooting, which included two threes.
Sharpe didn’t return until the 1:12 mark in the third quarter, with the Blazers trailing 81-80. He added three more points, finishing with 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting. He made all three of his three-point attempts.
Early in the fourth quarter, Sharpe hit a step-back three that gave the Blazers an 87-84 lead.
NEXT UP
The Blazers play their home opener Friday at 7 p.m. against the Phoenix Suns.
-- Aaron Fentress | [email protected] | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook).
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