----- Shaedon Sharpe scored 20 of his team-high 22 points in the first half as the Trail Blazers opened their preseason Wednesday night in San Francisco.
Shaedon Sharpe finished with a team-high 22 points and Deni Avdija added 14 points and eight rebounds in the Trail Blazers preseason opener Wednesday night at Chase Center in San Francisco.
Portland built a 16-point halftime lead and pushed their lead to as much as 21 but the Warriors bench responded in the fourth quarter. Golden State opened the fourth on a 16-5 run and would eventually take their first lead with 2:37 remaining following a Pat Spencer bucket.
Golden State outscored Portland 51-26 in the fourth leading to a 129-123 victory.
The Trail Blazers showed flashes of brilliance with their starters on the floor. Portland scored 39 in the first quarter and finished with 73-points in the first half. Aside from Sharpe's brilliance, Toumani Camara added 14 points, four rebounds, three assists, and two steals in 20 minutes
“Toumani continues to get better at all times,” Billups said. “He shot it real well today and played well. We expect these things out of Toumani all the time now, we’ve become accustomed to seeing it every single time. So he was really good.”
Portland rookie center Yang Hansen made his NBA debut on Wednesday night. He finished with just four points, four rebounds, and four turnovers in 21 minutes of action. He fouled out of the game late in the fourth.
“I thought he struggled in his minutes to kind of find his way,” Billups said. “You can imagine the nerves that a young kid like that has playing in his first NBA game. I’ve been there, and I looked really bad in some of my early games. I didn’t think he looked bad at all, but the learning curve that we continue to talk about with him, now you guys will be able to see it in front of you. The athletes are just so fast and so explosive in the NBA. And for somebody like him, it’s going to take a little time for him to adjust to that speed. But he will, and he’ll be just fine.”
Up Next- Trail Blazers return to Portland to host the Sacramento Kings Friday night at Moda Center. The game is scheduled to tip off at 7:00 PM.
Chad's Take- In the words of Mr. Miyagi, "Win, lose, no matter." That's the bottom line in preseason basketball. Promising night with the play of Sharpe, Avdija, Camara, and Holiday!