London Lions fall 119-66 to Trail Blazers: historic NBA night ends in a rout
Key takeaways
- The London Lions lost 119-66 to the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday in Oregon.
- They became the first British club ever to play a game against an NBA team.
- The Lions now fly back to Europe for a EuroCup game on Thursday.
The Portland Trail Blazers beat the London Lions 119-66 on Monday in Oregon. The NBA is the top basketball league in the United States. It played a warm-up game against a British team for the first time ever.
What happened
The game took place at the Moda Center in Portland on October 12. Portland never fell behind, not even for a minute. The home team entered the game as a 36.5-point favorite.
They stretched the lead in every quarter. The scores after each quarter were 34-21, 72-33, and 100-49. At one point, Portland led by 57 points.
London showed brief fight in the first quarter. Ethan Price hit two long three-pointers in 40 seconds. That cut the lead to 23-19 with three minutes left in the period.
A three-pointer is a shot worth three points taken from far away. Portland then took control in the second quarter. They outscored London 38-12 in that stretch.
The gap showed clearly in the numbers. Portland shot 56 percent from the field. London managed only 30 percent.
Portland made 16 of its 34 three-point shots. London made only 7 of 33. The hosts also ruled the paint, scoring 54 points inside to London's 24.
Turnovers hurt London badly. The Lions gave the ball away 24 times. Portland scored 39 points from those mistakes, while London scored just 14.
Scoot Henderson and Toumani Camara led Portland with 14 points each. Henderson made four of five three-point shots in only 16 minutes. Yang Hansen added 13 points and four assists.
Sidy Cissoko also scored 13, making all five of his shots. Deni Avdija added nine points, five rebounds, and four assists. Jeremy Sochan, who grew up in England, had eight points and eight rebounds.
Portland's five starters played a combined 76 minutes and scored 45 points. None of them played after half-time. Ja Morant, the biggest star on the court, scored five points with five assists.
Damian Lillard and Robert Williams III did not play because of rest. Chris Youngblood missed the game with a sore left calf. A total of 14 Trail Blazers got on the court.
One-sided scores are not new in sports this week. In hockey, fans also watched the Senators take on the Devils in NHL action. Blowouts, which mean wins by a huge margin, happen in every league.
For London, Maxwell Lewis led the way with 13 points. He is the only Lions player with NBA experience. He also grabbed five rebounds and made a game-high four steals.
Devante Adams came off the bench to score 12 points. Ethan Price and Joel Scott scored eight each. Tarik Phillip had a tough night, missing all eight of his shots.
The game was played under NBA rules, not European rules. NBA games use 12-minute quarters, while European games use 10-minute quarters. The court is bigger, and the three-point line sits farther from the basket.
London is coached by Tautvydas Sabonis. His father Arvydas played seven seasons for Portland in the 1990s and early 2000s. The coach had not visited the city in more than ten years.
Last season was Sabonis's first in charge of the Lions. The team won all four domestic competitions. But he admitted the timing of this trip was not ideal.
"If I had to choose a different timing, I would definitely choose it in the preseason, not now," he said.
The Lions made a round trip of almost 10,000 miles. They arrived in Portland on Saturday afternoon and flew out right after the game.
To fight jet lag, the squad stayed on British time. They woke around 4am for breakfast.
Why it matters
The result was historic no matter what the score said. The Lions became the first British club ever to face an NBA team.
The closest it had come before was the 1995 McDonald's Championship. Sheffield Sharks and Houston Rockets played in the same tournament. They never met on court.
The 53-point final margin showed the gap between the leagues. Preseason games are warm-up games played before the real season starts. Portland treated this one as practice time for its bench players.
The Lions are not a small club in their own world. They are the reigning champions of Super League Basketball, Britain's top league. They started this season with five straight league wins.
In 2024, they became the first British men's club to reach the EuroCup semi-finals. They have won one of their two EuroCup group games this season.
They have also bid to join the EuroLeague. The league plans to grow from 20 to 24 teams by the 2027-28 season.
The Lions are owned by Lithuanian tech company Tesonet. This season they became the first British basketball club to wear Jordan Brand kit.
A proposed NBA Europe competition has also put London on the map. London and Manchester are discussed as possible host cities.
Monday's game was not linked to that project. But it gave British club basketball a stage it had never had before.
What happens next
The Lions return to Europe at once. They host Skyliners Frankfurt in the EuroCup on Thursday. Their domestic and European seasons keep going in full swing.
Portland moves on with its preseason schedule. The Blazers travel to Sacramento to play the Kings on Tuesday night. They finish preseason on the road at Golden State on Friday.
Portland is now 2-0 in preseason. American football served up its own drama too.
The Ravens needed overtime to beat the Falcons 30-23. Games at the top can be very close.
For the Lions, the lesson from Oregon is clear. History was made on the court, and the score showed the road ahead.
British basketball now has proof that it can reach this stage. The next goal is to belong there.
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