The Portland Trail Blazers elected to rest Damian Lillard and Jerami Grant for Thursday night’s game at the Sacramento Kings.
Predictably, the Blazers lost 133-116 while playing without four starters, including Anfernee Simons (ankle) and Jusuf Nurkic (calf), who were out with injuries.
The reason for resting Lillard and Grant following the All-Star break was related to Wednesday’s snowstorm that blanketed the Portland area. The Blazers spent seven hours on an airplane that afternoon and evening before their flight was canceled. They left the airport and returned Thursday morning, only to be delayed another four hours.
The Blazers arrived in Sacramento only a few hours before game time and, given the non-optimal situation, elected to sit Lillard and Grant.
But someone had to play the game. The Blazers started Ryan Arcidiacono, the only other point guard on the roster behind Lillard and Simons, along with Matisse Thybulle, Cam Reddish, Nassir Little and Drew Eubanks.
They got the Blazers off to a 19-4 lead and they ended up winning the quarter 37-29. Then reality set in. The Kings dominated the second quarter 37-20 to take a 66-57 lead at halftime and never trailed again.
Blazers coach Chauncey Billups told reporters following the game at the Golden 1 Center that all he asked of his team was to play fast, share the basketball and make multiple efforts to give themselves a chance to win.
“I thought we played hard and I thought we played well,” Billups said. “We had a tough time stopping these guys in transition. That really hurt us. I thought them rebounding the ball really hurt us.”
The Kings turned a respectable 13 Blazers turnovers into 24 points and out-rebounded Portland 51-33.
Little led the Blazers with 26 points 10-of-19 shooting and he made 5 of 9 threes.
“Happy to see Nas just get hot,” Billups said.
Reddish scored 24 and Shaedon Sharpe came off the bench for 14 points but shot just 4 of 14 from the field.
The Blazers shot 46.2% on the night and hit 16 of 38 threes (42.1%) despite missing their three best outside shooters in Lillard, Simons and Grant.
But the Kings shot 54% from the field while getting 31 points out of De’Aaron Fox and 18 points, 18 rebounds and 10 assists from Domantas Sabonis.
Billups said he thought the players who did play were able to block out the travel delays.
“It’s just crazy because I’ve always just felt that like whether as a player or coach, anything that’s going on outside, once that game starts, you just you forget about all of that,” Billups said. “When that game started, nobody was thinking about being on that plane yesterday. Or driving home and it took him five hours. Nobody thinks about that. So, you’ve just got to get to the game. And I thought we did a good job. We don’t make excuses. We don’t do that. We don’t believe in that. It just happens that way, sometimes. Circumstances happen. Mother Nature happens.”
Portland Trail Blazers forward Trendon Watford, right, shoots over Sacramento Kings forward Domantas Sabonis during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game in Sacramento, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Randall Benton) APAP
WHAT IT MEANS
The Blazers (28-31) losing at the Kings (33-25) wouldn’t have been shocking had conditions been optimal. But it’s unfortunate for the Blazers that they were forced to begin their post-All-Star break schedule at a disadvantage. The loss kept them in 12th place in the Western Conference, just a half game ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers (28-32), who won 124-111 over Golden State.
NEXT UP
The Blazers host the Houston Rockets at 6 p.m. Sunday.
— Aaron Fentress | afentress@Oregonian.com | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook). Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts
