It took six quarters, but Portland Trail Blazers rookie Yang Hansen found his preseason footing Friday night at the Moda Center. Well, he didn’t just get settled; he burst onto the scene with a special
sequence in the third quarter that electrified the home crowd and helped Portland overcome the Sacramento Kings, 124-123.
“That boy different,” Portland guard Caleb Love said. “ … “Just to see how talented he is, the moves that he was doing out there. He looked more comfortable than he did the first game.”
After a rough preseason opener against the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday and a challenging first half against the Kings on Friday, everything flipped in an instant. The 20-year-old center broke through with 14 third-quarter points in just five minutes. Yang showed off the whole bag during the sequence, displaying the varied skillset that makes him such a promising prospect at 7-foot-1. With each highlight, you could see his confidence grow.
“Obviously, he made some spectacular plays that I’m sure we’ll be seeing again tonight on TV,” Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups said.
The sequence began with back-to-back 3s at around the 5:00 mark. One from the corner, the next from the top of the key. He celebrated the second make by holding up three fingers and shaking his hand as he ran back on defense, a motion that also had a practical motive.
“I might’ve just used that to relax my hand, though,” Yang said about the celebration, speaking through an interpreter. “It felt a little bit numb.”
From there, Yang began making the types of plays that made his Summer League experience so viral in July. He pushed the ball on the fast break, gave it up and got it right back for a layup around former Blazer Drew Eubanks. He hit teammate Shaedon Sharpe on a crisp backdoor bounce pass that ended in a slam. He connected on a free-throw line jumper with soft touch. He rejected Kings guard Malik Monk’s layup at the rim.
The best highlight came when he pump-faked from the top of the key, attacked a closeout, dribbled quick behind the back and then spun into another layup. That’s when Yang knew he had unlocked something.
“That’s my move,“ Yang said. “So I got my move. I think that’s the moment I let it go.”
The hot stretch helped Yang finish with 16 points, four rebounds, three blocks and an assist on 5-8 shooting from the floor (4-4 on free throws) in 17 minutes. It was a big step up from his performance on Wednesday, in which he fouled out with four points and four turnovers after 21 minutes.
“I felt a little bit guilty because I didn’t do well for the team,” Yang said about the debut, adding that he tried to course-correct by asking lots of questions on Thursday night and at Friday morning shoot around.
Knowing Yang shows that dedication and care made Billups even happier about his success against Sacramento. Billups also said Yang’s performances in practice have produced similar highlights.
“He’s had some moments in camp where he’s shown some flashes, but not the whole practice,” Billups said. “But he’s had some moments where you’re just like, ‘Wow. He’s not supposed to be doing that at that size.’”
Similarly, Yang didn’t put together a complete game on Friday. But during that hot third-quarter run, he showed glimpses of what makes him special and what could be coming down the road.
“He’s a star in the making,” Love said. “He’s going to keep getting better and better.”
More Game Notes
- Billups said he held forward Toumani Camara out of the second half because he was dealing with some knee soreness.
- After Portland’s deep bench coughed up a big fourth-quarter lead in Wednesday’s loss, the reserves once again had to protect a double-digit lead on Friday. This time, they held off the Kings and pushed Portland to 1-1 on the preseason.
- Love had some troubles with clutch free throws down the stretch. He missed three in a row in the final 24 seconds, but made the fourth and most important attempt. That shot put Portland ahead by one with 0.6 seconds remaining.
- “They were just telling me I was good,” Love said about what his teammates were telling him after the game. “They know I can make free throws, and that wasn’t me. That was [artificial intelligence].”
