The Portland Trail Blazers seek to add an NBA Cup win to their impressive start when they visit the Sacramento Kings on Friday night.
The game tips off a coast-to-coast journey for the Trail Blazers, whose six-game trip includes two games against the Minnesota Timberwolves before one apiece against the Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers.
Portland has won five of its first six road games this season, with the lone loss coming in its only previous NBA Cup contest, a 124-118 defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Trail Blazers begin the trip flying high, having swept a two-game home series against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Portland won the games by a total of 30 points.
Among the highlights of the sweep was veteran big man Robert Williams contributing to each win. He hadn’t played both ends of a back-to-back since February of 2022 for the Boston Celtics.
Williams totaled 16 points, shooting 6-for-7, and 11 rebounds in 32 minutes across the two games, mostly against Oklahoma City’s Isaiah Hartenstein.
The 29-year-old, who missed more games (208) than he played (120) over the last four seasons, insists he’s healthy and ready to turn back the clock.
“Even going back to last offseason, the program they put together for me, I think it went good,” he said. “Now I’m looking to build off it.”
In Sacramento, Williams figures to match up with Domantas Sabonis, who is coming off the first scoreless game of his career in which he played at least 20 minutes, going 0-for-2 from the field in 24 minutes in a home loss to Orlando on Tuesday.
Sabonis had been listed as questionable for that game with a sore left knee, but insisted at practice Thursday that he’s healthy and looking forward to bigger and better things.
“I felt great. I’m 100%. I feel amazing,” he said. “Last game was just a different game, and just gotta be better in all aspects.”
The loss to the Magic was Sacramento’s fourth in a row, all at home, and 10th in 11 games this season. The Kings still have three games remaining in a seven-game homestand.
One of the home losses in the losing streak came in Sacramento’s NBA Cup opener, 124-109 against the San Antonio Spurs.
The Kings and Trail Blazers will be meeting for the second time this season. Williams played 18 minutes in that one, going 6-for-6 from the field en route to 13 points in a 128-120 road win during the first week of the season.
Sabonis countered with one of his best performances of the year, recording a triple-double with 27 points, 19 rebounds and 10 assists.
As has been the case in most Portland wins this season, the game was decided from outside the 3-point line, from where the Trail Blazers outscored the hosts 42-24. Toumani Camara was the night’s long-distance shooting star, hitting five of his 10 attempts from deep in a 19-point effort.
Kings rookie Darius Acuff Jr., despite 2-for-11 success from beyond the arc, was the game’s leading scorer with 33 points.
