Dame Time: Trail Blazers beat Kings with more fourth-quarter heroics from Damian Lillard
Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard did it again Thursday night, dominating the final minutes against the Kings to show them why everyone calls it Dame Time.
Lillard had 44 points and seven assists to lead the Blazers to a 123-119 victory over the Kings at Moda Center in Portland, Oregon. Lillard scored 12 points in the final three minutes, outdueling De’Aaron Fox down the stretch.
“That’s what Dame is known for, so for him to kind of rise to the challenge in this game was impressive,” Kings forward Harrison Barnes said.
Enes Kanter posted a monster double-double with 22 points and 21 rebounds for the Blazers (21-14). Carmelo Anthony came off the bench to add 16 points.
Fox had 32 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds in a valiant effort for the Kings (14-22), who were on the second night of a back-to-back after beating the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday in Sacramento. Fox had 18 points in a brilliant fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough.
Buddy Hield had 21 points and six rebounds for the Kings. Barnes scored 17. Marvin Bagley III added 14 points and nine rebounds with three assists while Richaun Holmes finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Lillard came out on the attack from the start, scoring 15 points in the opening period to help the Blazers get out to a 30-27 lead. Fox appeared to be in that kind of mood, too, scoring 10 points in the first quarter. Fox went scoreless in the second quarter, but the Kings kept the game close, trailing 59-56 at the half.
The Kings had a chance to tie the game going into the halftime break, but they failed to get a shot off on an out-of-bounds play with 1.2 seconds remaining. The Blazers sent three players at Hield to prevent him from getting the ball. Bagley popped out to take the inbound pass from Fox, but he appeared to be unaware of how much time was remaining. As the buzzer sounded to signal the end of the half, Walton turned and swatted a water bottle off the scorer’s table with measurable velocity and distance, clearly upset his team didn’t get a shot.
“Every possession matters,” Waltons said. “Our awareness and our attention to detail and execution, these are things in professional sports we have to be ready (to do). We have to be dialed in and better at those things.
“There are times when I get frustrated. There are times when the players get frustrated. We’re competing out there, but we really need to embrace the idea that every possession matters.”
The Blazers maintained a slight lead until Barnes hit a pretty fade-away jumper to put the Kings up 90-89 at the end of the third quarter. Fox took over in the fourth.
Fox scored nine consecutive points for his team to put the Kings up 101-96 with 7:07 to play. A 3-pointer by Hield gave the Kings a 108-103 lead with 3:49 remaining, but that just meant it was Dame Time.
Lillard dished to Kanter for a layup, sank a pull-up jumper from 21 feet, went to the basket for a driving layup and then sank a long 3-pointer, putting Portland up 112-108 with 1:57 to go.
Fox made a couple of 3-pointers to cut a seven-point deficit to one with 6.6 seconds remaining, but the Blazers made their free throws in the final seconds to hold on for the win.
‘Too unruly’ for Atlanta
The Kings will not have any representatives at the NBA All-Star Game in Atlanta on March 7. Rookie Tyrese Haliburton was chosen for the Rising Stars team, but the game will not be played this year.
Hield is the reigning 3-Point Contest champion after winning the event in Chicago last season, but he declined to participate this season. Hield added some humor to his explanation, saying the health and safety protocols in Atlanta might be too restrictive for him.
“I just wasn’t in the mood to go this year,” Hield said. “I won’t lie to you, with COVID and everything going on. … I think they have a really good field there already. I can spend time with my family and hopefully next year I get an opportunity to go have a crack at it again when, hopefully, we’re not under COVID rules and we can do stuff. I’m just tired of being locked into the rules and stuff like that. I’m too unruly.”
Up next
The Kings will get a week off for the All-Star break before beginning the second half against the Houston Rockets on March 11 at Golden 1 Center. Both teams could benefit from some time away.
The Rockets (11-23) have cratered in recent weeks, losing 13 in a row going into the break. They enjoyed a nice bounce with John Wall, Victor Oladipo and DeMarcus Cousins after James Harden was traded to the Brooklyn Nets, but since then they’ve struggled at both ends of the floor. The Rockets were last in the NBA in scoring over the past 13 games at 101.6 points while giving up 119.3.
Injury report
Kings: OUT — Tyrese Haliburton (left calf soreness); Chimezie Metu (right wrist fracture); Jabari Parker (health and safety protocols); Jahmi’us Ramsey (G League); Hassan Whiteside (health and safety protocols); Robert Woodard II (left hamstring strain).
Blazers: OUT — Zach Collins (left ankle fracture); Harry Giles III (left calf strain); CJ McCollum (left midfoot fracture); Jusuf Nurkic (right wrist fracture).
Kings upcoming schedule
March 4 at Portland Trail Blazers, 7 p.m.
March 11 vs. Houston Rockets, 7 p.m.
March 13 at Atlanta Hawks, 4:30 p.m.
March 15 at Charlotte Hornets, 4 p.m.
March 17 at Washington Wizards, 4 p.m.
