Blazers Barely Win Preseason Finale Over Kings, 118-115

The Blazers finished their 2018 preseason with a game against the moribund Kings that was instantly irrelevant upon conclusion. Somehow the game was close, which gave the home fans something to enjoy. But as a warm-up for a new season, it was a lukewarm experience at best. Lots of Blazers had decent numbers, as seen in the box score, but it was a pretty empty game.

We didn’t learn much tonight, being a preseason finale, but let’s pretend we didn’t already know these things and learn them again:

• The Kings still stink. For now. Their young core is actually interesting. Bagley, Cauley-Stein, Hield and crew could entertain the home fans this season and give long-term hope.
• The Blazers didn’t care about this game. It was a throwaway game, and it showed. They looked like they were sleepwalking at times, then woke up to go on the occasional run.
• Tonight was the annual Meyers Leonard breakout game. Leonard has a game or two every year where you see why he has tantalizing potential hidden in there. This was one of those nights.
• The team is as ready for the season as they’re going to get. They’ve had enough practice and on-court time. Bring on the Lakers and let’s see what happens.

That’s it for preseason! The grind begins anew Thursday night, with a huge nationally-televised game against (still getting used to saying this) LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.