Nets, Trail Blazers and Kings deliver weekend upsets

Michael Porter Jr. (YouTube)

There were three significant upsets over the weekend, as the Portland Trail Blazers, Brooklyn Nets and Sacramento Kings all came through with victories as double digit underdogs. Brooklyn has only won three games all season, and Sacramento has only won four times.

The Nets were a 14 point underdog against the Boston Celtics but came through with a 113-105 win on Friday. Brooklyn dominated Boston 40-25 in the second quarter. Clearly, the Celtics are just an average team without Jayson Tatum. The Nets were the biggest underdog this season to record a win. They passed the Chicago Bulls, who were a 12.5 point underdog against the Denver Nuggets on November 17, but won 130-127.

Five Nets players reached double digits in scoring. Small forward Michael Porter Jr. of Indianapolis, Indiana, who is in his first year in Brooklyn, after an offseason trade with the Denver Nuggets, led the Nets in scoring with 33 points. Power forward Noah Clowney of Spartanburg, South Carolina had had 19 points, center Nic Claxton of Greenville, South Carolina had 18 points. point guard Egor Demin of Moscow, Russia had 12 points, and off the bench, shooting guard Tyrese Martin of Allentown, Pennsylvania had 10 points.

Claxton, in fact, had the triple double as he had 12 assists and 11 rebounds. It was the first triple double of his career. Brooklyn had only won two other games this year. They beat the Indiana Pacers 112-103 on November 5, and the Washington Wizards 129-106 on November 16.

The Trail Blazers were a 10.5 point underdog on Friday in northern California, against a much more experienced Golden State Warriors squad, but came through with a 127-123 win. Portland was led in scoring by Deni Avdija of Beit Zera, Israel and shooting guard Caleb Love of St. Louis, Missouri, who had 26 points each. Avdija also had the double-double as he had 13 assists. Meanwhile, center Donovan Clingan of Bristol, Connecticut also had the impressive double-double as he had 22 points and 10 rebounds. Power forward Toumani Camara of Brussels, Belgium and small forward Sidy Cissoko of Saint-Maurice, France reached double digits in points as well as they had 20 and 15 points respectively. This was Portland’s seventh win of the season.

The Kings defeated the Denver Nuggets 128-123 on Saturday. Sacramento was an 11 point underdog. This was only Denver’s fourth loss all season, and second loss in a week as a double digit favourite. Denver also lost to Chicago in the aforementioned game by a score of  130-127. The Kings improved to 4-13 with the win.

Sacramento had six players reach double digits in scoring. Point guards Russell Westbrook of Long Beach, California, and Dennis Schroder of Braunschweig, Germany led the Kings with 21 points each. Forward Keegan Murray of Cedar Rapids, Iowa had 19 points, forward DeMar DeRozan of Compton, California had 17 points, shooting guard Zach LaVine of Renton, Washington had 15 points, and shooting guard Malik Monk of Jonesboro, Arkansas had 12 points.