The Portland Trail Blazers are a much, much better team than they were a year ago. Even with Damian Lillard firing on all cylinders, as he always was capable of, they just didn’t quite have that extra gear. But this season, that appears to be a bit different as they have won seven of their opening 11 games courtesy of a 132-126 win over the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night. A big part of the reason for their victory was the aforementioned Lillard.
He scored 40 points on the evening, eight of which came in the final four minutes to allow them to skate away from their opponents, and he even added 13 assists to give him a big double-double. On top of that, the Blazers also sunk a franchise-high 23 three-pointers, leading them to their fourth straight win. Sacramento didn’t shoot too badly from three-point range either, with 50% of theirs dropping. De’Aaron Fox led the way for them, scoring 29 in the defeat.
