Blazers thump London Lions 119-66 in preseason action

The Portland Trail Blazers made easy work of the London Lions early Monday afternoon, blasting the British club 119-66 at the Moda Center in front of just over 5,000 Rip City faithful. Portland moves to 2-0 in the preseason.

“We’ve been going hard at practice but nothing compared to the actual game that we can play here in Moda, in front of the fans too,” Vit Krejci said in a postgame interview with Portland’s broadcast team. “We still got a lot of things we got to improve, and hopefully we can approach (things) well these next two games.”

Scoot Henderson had 14 points to lead the Blazers, shooting 4-for-5 from deep, adding three assists and two steals. Toumani Camara matched him with 14 points, followed by Yang Hansen and Sidy Cissoko with 13 points apiece. Donovan Clingan finished with 11 points and six rebounds, while Vit Krejci recorded 10 points. Deni Avdija totaled nine points, five rebounds and four assists.

The Blazers never trailed, leading by as much as 57 points. They shot 16-for-34 from 3-point range and 56.3 percent overall from the field. Portland managed 54 points in the paint along with 74 bench points, committing 19 turnovers and totaling 32 assists. Rip City outrebounded London 51-33.

Damian Lillard and Robert Williams III were both out due to rest. Left calf soreness kept Chris Youngblood sidelined. 

The Lions, Great Britain’s Super League Basketball 2025-26 champion, hung around a quarter, trailing 34-21 at the end of the first period. But the Blazers were clearly operating in a more casual mode. Nine guys saw the floor in the first quarter alone, with Krejci and Hansen notably getting an earlier run than they did against Golden State. 

In all, 14 Blazers checked in against the Lions. Hansen played a team-high 21 minutes and 28 seconds, while everybody played at least a minimum of 13 minutes. Probably intentional on Nori’s part, providing another opportunity outside of practice to evaluate his bench. 

However, Portland's practices may offer a more competitive environment than they had versus the Lions.

“It’s very competitive (in practice), but that’s how we get better,” Krejci said. “I think the more competitive we are in practice, the better we’re gonna be in season. So it’s nice that we have so many guys fighting for a spot.”

The Blazers hit the road to continue postseason play on Tuesday against the Kings. Portland ends its preseason on the road against Golden State on Friday.

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