Portland Trail Blazers: 3 things to watch for against the Sacramento Kings

The Portland Trail Blazers will finish their preseason against the Sacramento Kings. Here’s are 3 things to watch for.

And so it ends tonight in the Moda Center – the last of the games that don’t matter. The Portland Trail Blazers will take on the Sacramento Kings to end their exhibition schedule.

Here are 3 things to watch for in Blazers vs. Kings.

Can Layman do it again?

Jake Layman was incredible in his last game against the Phoenix Suns, notching 28 points, four rebounds, and three assists. He shot the three ball well (5/7), played good defense, and threw down a (lame) dunk.

And while that’s all well and good, the question this game will be, can he do it again?

To expect him to have the same kind of performance against the Kings is probably an unfair expectation to place on Layman.

But I, and many others, have been saying it all preseason long: the guy looks more confident and more aggressive out there than he ever has before. If you ask Layman, however, he’d say the confidence has always been there. Instead, the difference has been that he’s grown more mature in his game.

Well, let’s hope this maturity leads to consistency.

Another impressive preseason performance, and he could be well on his way to becoming a reliable option in the Blazers rotation come this regular season.

Off-ball movement with Curry and Stauskas on the floor

With Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, and Evan Turner resting in their game against the Suns, Seth Curry and Nik Stauskas shared the floor together a bit more.

Watch their movement on the floor when neither has the ball. When each are moving, especially on different sides of the floor, lanes to the basket can open up as the each portion of the defense must choose who to contain.

With both being shooters that attract the attention of the opposition, the Blazers should continue finding ways to utilize these guys together. Curry was a decent passer in Dallas, and Stauskas has shown an ability to make the right play, and so these guys can work off the others’ gravity to make their passing all the more potent.

If Evan Turner plays against the Kings and acts as a primary facilitator for a second-unit, Portland could run some fun sets with these three guys.

Will Nurkic revive his three-point shot?

I’d always been skeptical about Nurkic’s shot. He has yet to hit a three in a regular season game. And last season, his shooting percentage between 16-and-22 feet was 36.9.

Not exactly the credentials of someone who should garner hype over his three-point shot.

But then he hit two nice long range bombs (and another with his toe on the line) against the Utah Jazz, and I threw caution to the wind. Nurkic was going to be the next big who developed a three-point stroke.

And as soon as I bought in, he made me look like a fool.

Against the Suns, he missed all three of his three-point attempts – badly – leading many to mourn what almost was:

https://twitter.com/SteveDHoops/status/1050229084242890752

But the hope for Nurk to hit threes should not be totally dead after one poor shooting night. On life support, maybe. But not dead.

Watch to see if he stays confident from beyond the arc or begins turning these shots down. And if he makes one, listen closely and you’ll hear me shriek with joy.

Let’s end the final 48 minutes of the preseason on a high-note. Game starts at 7:00 P.S.T.