After not playing basketball for nearly a week, you wouldn't necessarily be surprised to see the Kings come out slow and unsteady due to rust. But the Kings hing with a talented Trail Blazers squad through two and a half quarters, until Damian Lillard decided to destroy worlds.
Lillard had already had an amazing first half but really took over in the third quarter. With the Kings only down 1 after a Zach Randolph basket with 4:30 left, Lillard scored 15 points of a 17-0 run by himself. He ended up finishing the quarter with 50 points, joining teammate C.J. McCollum and Klay Thompson as the only players in NBA history to score 50 in three quarters or less.
The run put rhe Kings away for good, and if it weren't for some timely threes by Buddy Hield in the fourth quarter, the score might have looked even more lopsided. Hield scored all 16 of his points in the fourth quarter alone, including three three-pointers in a row that nearly prompted Lillard's return. But Portland was able to keep the Kings at bay thanks to timely baskets from C.J. McCollum and Moe Harkless.
Willie Cauley-Stein led the Kings with 19 points, and De'Aaron Fox, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Justin Jackson and Hield all finished with double digits.
Tonight was Sacramento's final home game before the All-Star break. They now head to Minnesota to start a three game trip.
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