Jerami Grant capped a team-high 23-point performance in his Portland debut with a go-ahead, three-point play with 50.4 seconds remaining Wednesday night, lifting the visiting Trail Blazers to a 115-108 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Opening Night.
Anfernee Simons scored 22 points, Damian Lillard 20 and Josh Hart 19 in a balanced attack that allowed the Trail Blazers to avenge a three-point home defeat at the hands of the Kings in last year’s opener.
De’Aaron Fox poured in a game-high 33 points and Kevin Huerter had 23 for the Kings, who finished three games ahead of the Trail Blazers in the final Western Conference standings a year ago.
Capping a tightly contested final period, the Kings’ Terence Davis broke a 104-104 deadlock with a dunk with 2:18 remaining, but he was called for a technical foul on the play. Lillard’s free throw got Portland back within one.
Neither team scored again until Grant’s driving hoop in the final minute, on which he drew a foul from Domantas Sabonis. The subsequent free throw put Portland up 108-106.
Fox then missed a potential game-tying jumper, and Hart got loose for a layup on which he also was fouled with 22.2 seconds to go. The free throw put the Trail Blazers up five.
Lillard and Grant iced the win with two foul shots apiece in the final 14.1 seconds.
Lillard added a game-high eight assists on a night on which he shot just 5-for-18 overall and 1-for-8 from 3-point range. Reserves Shaedon Sharpe and Justise Winslow chipped in 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Fox buried five of his nine 3-point attempts and Huerter six of his nine for the Kings, who outscored the Trail Blazers 51-33 from beyond the arc. Fox also found time for a team-high seven assists.
Davis finished with 14 points and Sabonis 13.
The Kings rallied from 14 down to take a 55-51 halftime lead on the strength of a defensive effort that allowed the visitors just 19 points in the second period.
Portland’s biggest lead of the half occurred at 43-29 with 7:11 remaining, on a layup by Hart. But Sacramento scored 26 of the half’s final 34 points, with Huerter (two), Davis (two) and Fox (one) combining for five 3-pointers in the late flurry.
–Field Level Media
