PORTLAND — The Portland Trail Blazers blew a 21-point lead, went into overtime, lost their preseason opener but still came out unscathed.
Behind 32 points from Marco Belinelli the Sacramento Kings defeated the Blazers 109-105 in overtime.
For most of Monday’s preseason opener, the Blazers looked pretty good. Damian Lillard looked the part of an All-Star, the ball moved and 3-pointers went in.
“You always want to win games, but I though we took a lot of positives away,” head coach Terry Stotts said. “I liked our defense, particularly in the first half. We did a lot of good things offensively. I thought we moved the ball really well.”
It’s preseason and every observation — positive or negative — should be taken with a spoonful of salt.
While Stotts praised their defense and Lillard spoke of the activity and deflecting passes after the game, it’s preseason and everyone is sloppy early on.
The Blazers blew the lead with Lillard and CJ McCollum watching from the bench while Belinelli and veteran guard Darren Collison — who had 21 points and 10 assists — brought the Kings back.
Stotts said after the game he wanted to keep the minutes of all their key players around 24 and he stuck to his plan.
“It’s a long month,” Stotts said.
Lillard had 17 points and three assists to lead the team. Meyers Leonard had 14 points and eight rebounds, getting the start at power forward.
Next to Lillard and Leonard, Mason Plumlee, Allen Crabbe and McCollum were given the first chance to start.
Moe Harkless had 14 points and six rebounds in 24 minutes off the bench.
Noah Vonleh had a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds in 25 minutes off the bench.
McCollum had a tough shooting night, going 2-for-11 from the field.
Blazers forward Al-Farouq Aminu — the team’s highest paid player this year and the projected starter at small-forward — was absent from Monday’s game due to the birth of his first child.
Sacramento big man DeMarcus Cousins was a cut above the rest, hulking his way to the basket with the Blazers defense at the rim unable to stop him.
Cousins scored 22 points and had seven rebounds.
Leonard’s night looked like it would be cut short when he turned his right ankle after landing on DeMarcus Cousins’ foot. Leonard rolled off the ground and immediately asked for a substitution.
It wasn’t the first instance the two got tangled as Leonard caught Cousins in the neck with an elbow early in the first quarter.
Leonard would return however, with 5:11 left in the third quarter and almost immediately got a lob pass and made a lay-up in transition.
Cousins was not done, though. He made Leonard unconformable by not leaving him any room to land on another jumper after returning, causing Leonard to throw up his arms toward the referee, showing his discomfort.
“I haven’t seen the video of it, I’d like to peak at it tomorrow, it’s not that big of a deal,” Leonard said, trying to be diplomatic. “I did feel a little more uncomfortable after the second one just because it had just happened.”
Vonleh hurt his left ankle in the overtime period and was forced to leave the game before it ended.
Stotts said after the game that Vonleh suffered a tweak and didn’t expect him to miss any time.
