Portland Trail Blazers All-Star Deni Avdija produced his best performance of the young season in a 120-107 road win over the Sacramento Kings on Friday night, helping the Blazers improve to 9-3. The 6-foot-8 forward powered Portland to the win with 34 points on 11-13 shooting from the field (3-5 on 3s), to go along with six rebounds, four assists, one block and perfect shooting from the foul line (9-9).
Avdija’s early-season excellence hasn’t been lost on fellow Portland star Damian Lillard. In a postgame
interview in the locker room courtesy of Sacramento-based journalist Tony Ray Harvey of Publicity Agents, Lillard gave nothing but high praise for Avdija and the early returns of their on-court partnership.
“Playing with him has been probably the most joyful for me out of any other player that I’ve played with, as far as being a tandem,” said Lillard, who registered 29 points and hit six 3s against Sacramento. “Just because of the force that he plays with, it makes the game easier for me. He draws a lot of attention on himself. And especially coming back after missing some time, the trust that’s there, based off of what I’ve seen from him last year and now being on the floor with him, is at an extremely high level, knowing that he could dominate games, he could make plays and make the game easier for me, and I can do the same for him. … It’s been great just to have a guy that I can play alongside that you trust on that level.”
The kind words from Lillard are especially complimentary considering some of the high-caliber teammates the 36-year-old has played with over his career, including All-Stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and LaMarcus Aldridge.
Avdija was also asked about Lillard during his postgame walk-off interview with Blazers sideline reporter extraordinaire Brooke Olzendam, and he gave similar praise about their connection:
“I feel like the communication with us is the key. I feel like we’re really good in terms of knowing what to say to each other at what time, and he has a really high IQ. But it’s not only Dame, I feel like everybody — our communication is so good that we’re able to fix things on the fly and understand how to play together.”
Avdija, Lillard and the Blazers have two days of rest before this six-game road trip continues with a back-to-back against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday and Tuesday.
