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Trail Blazers romp over the Kings 118-100, Lillard drops 50

By Matt George Moore

The Sacramento Kings' De'Aaron Fox, right, reacts to a foul by the Portland Trail Blazers' Damian Lillard, left, at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento Calif., on Friday, Feb. 9, 2018. (Hector Amezcua/Sacramento Bee/TNS via Getty Images)
The Sacramento Kings' De'Aaron Fox, right, reacts to a foul by the Portland Trail Blazers' Damian Lillard, left, at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento Calif., on Friday, Feb. 9, 2018. (Hector Amezcua/Sacramento Bee/TNS via Getty Images) /
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The Trail Blazers (31-25) stomped on the Kings (17-37) by a score of 118-100 Friday in Sacramento. We’re gonna go out on a limb and say that head coach Terry Stotts was relatively pleased with this performance.

The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Sacramento Kings Friday 118-100. The game featured a dominating performance from Damian Lillard, who matched his teammate CJ McCollum in scoring 50 points in less than 30 minutes.

Both players did it in 29 minutes, actually. They join Golden State’s Klay Thompson as the only players in NBA history to accomplish that feat.

It was Portland’s second win in as many nights; they topped the Charlotte Hornets 109-103 Thursday in overtime at the Moda Center. And we’re pretty sure Stotts is happy with this one.

Trail Blazers vs. Kings

The first quarter of Friday’s game in Sacramento was a close back-and-forth affair. Problem was, the Trail Blazers defense was allowing far too many baskets in the paint.

Damian Lillard was off to a good start, including one from way out there:

Here’s what I tweeted after one quarter:

Quarter No. 2!

In the second quarter, the teams continued to play competitive basketball. This is a good thing for a team like the Kings; not so much for the Trail Blazers.

This happened, although it didn’t count:

Thanks to Dame’s continued hot shooting, the Trail Blazers were able to extend their lead to 10 points, 62-52, heading into halftime. Lillard scored a season-high 28 points in the half.

SECOND HALF

Lillard didn’t cool off in the second half and continued to bomb the Kings from long-range.

With 7:03 left in the third, the Trail Blazers were up 73-64.

The Kings kept pushing back, though.

But here’s a thing I tweeted that will tell you what happened next:

It was that kinda night for Dolla, who was 16-26 from the field, including 8-of-13 from three.

It was for real making the Kings twitter person cray:

The Blazers were getting to the rim at will in the third quarter. They ended the third quarter on a 17-0 run.

That number 17 has been popping up a lot lately for the Blazers. They blew two separate 17-point leads against the Hornets. You can read about it here:

Next: Blazers win, but Stotts is not happy. Here are five reasons why.

And then suddenly the Kings couldn’t miss a three-point shot and pulled within 13 points (107-94). And yet the Trail Blazers held off the run, and pulled away in the fourth to win 118-100.

Shabazz Napier added 13 off the bench for the Blazers. He was 5-of-5 from the field (including 3-of-3 from three). And he was vital to the Blazers’ ability to close the game out.

Next up for the Trail Blazers: a critical tilt Sunday against the surging Utah Jazz. Tip-off at 6 p.m. PST.