Kings recap: Carmelo Anthony, Harry Giles lead Blazers to preseason win over Sacramento
Carmelo Anthony scored 21 points and Harry Giles III posted a double-double against his former team, leading the Portland Trail Blazers to a 127-102 victory over the Kings in a preseason opener Friday night at Moda Center in Portland.
Giles had 18 points, 14 rebounds, two blocked shots and two steals for the Blazers, punctuating his performance with an emphatic dunk in the fourth quarter. C.J. McCollum also scored 18 points.
Buddy Hield led the Kings with 23 points, making 8 of 17 field-goal attempts and 5 of 11 from 3-point range. Harrison Barnes had 16 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals.
De’Aaron Fox had a rough night, finishing with 10 points on 3-for-12 shooting from the field and 1-for-7 from beyond the arc. Fox recorded six assists but committed four turnovers.
Rookie first-round draft pick Tyrese Haliburton was fairly quiet but had some nice moments, knocking down a corner 3-pointer and coming up with a steal for a breakaway dunk. Haliburton finished with five points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals in 20 minutes.
The Kings shot just 36.8% from the field and 32% from 3-point range. They attempted 50 3-pointers but converted only 16.
The Blazers shot 51.1% from the field and made 17 of 34 from beyond the arc.
“We played absolutely zero defense tonight from the start of the game to the end,” Kings coach Luke Walton said. “We’ve got to be much better than that. I know we’re down a couple of our big bodies, but the overall pressure defensively has to be better.”
Starting lineup
Walton chose to start Fox and Hield in the backcourt with Barnes at small forward, Nemanja Bjelica at power forward and Richaun Holmes at center. That came as no surprise after Marvin Bagley III (COVID-19) and Hassan Whiteside (calf) were both ruled out for the preseason opener.
Walton was asked before the game how far coaches are into the process of establishing a starting lineup for the regular season.
“We need more time,” Walton said. “We haven’t had Whiteside or Bagley for anything, so those are big parts of our team. … We’re missing two big pieces that should be back next week, so we’ve got to start putting them in place and see how that looks.”
Injury report
Walton said the team left Bagley and Whiteside back in Sacramento to recover from illness and injury.
Bagley tested positive for COVID-19 before training camp began. He has begun individual workouts but is still moving through league protocols. Whiteside is out with a mild right calf strain, although he has been participating in individual workouts as well.
Walton said he expects both players to return next week.
Hello, Harry
Giles had a big outing in his first preseason game for the Blazers since leaving Sacramento as a free agent.
Giles came off the bench to provide a spark for the Blazers. He had eight points on 4-of-4 shooting with four rebounds in 10 first-half minutes.
Portland coach Terry Stotts elected to start the former Kings first-round draft pick in the second half. Giles continued to bring familiar fire and energy, even swatting a soft floater by Fox midway through the third quarter.
Giles was a fan favorite in Sacramento, where he spent his first three NBA seasons after the Kings selected him out of Duke with the No. 15 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft.
“He had a hell of a game,” Fox said. “Obviously, this was probably a game that he wanted.”
Kings waive Quinton Rose
The Kings waived Quinton Rose on Friday morning. Rose, 22, was with the team for training camp on an Exhibit 10 contract.
Rose, a 6-foot-8, 185-pound guard, averaged 16.4 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists as a senior at Temple last season. He was a two-time second-team All-American Athletic Conference selection and the conference’s all-time leading scorer.
Kings upcoming schedule
Preseason
Trail Blazers 127, Kings 102
Dec. 13 at Portland Trail Blazers, 6 p.m.
Dec. 15 vs. Golden State Warriors, 7 p.m.
Dec. 17 vs. Golden State Warriors, 6 p.m.
Regular season
Dec. 23 at Denver Nuggets, 6 p.m.
Dec. 26 vs. Phoenix Suns, 7 p.m.
Dec. 27 vs. Phoenix Suns, 6 p.m.
Dec. 29 vs. Denver Nuggets, 7 p.m.
Dec. 31 at Houston Rockets, 4 p.m.
This story was originally published December 11, 2020 at 10:10 PM.
