LOCALS IN THE NBA

Damian Lillard Leads Trail Blazers To First Place In The West

Nov 21, 2018, 1:13 PM | Updated: Nov 23, 2018, 1:28 pm

Damian Lillard #0 of the Portland Trail Blazers dribbles past Trey Burke #23 of the New York Knicks...

Damian Lillard #0 of the Portland Trail Blazers dribbles past Trey Burke #23 of the New York Knicks during the third quarter of the game at Madison Square Garden on November 20, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

(Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Damian Lillard has led the Portland Trail Blazers to the top of the Western Conference with a 12-5 record and had a couple of great performances during the fifth week of the season.

Jakob Poeltl played the most minutes for the Spurs of the season while scoring in double figures for the first time in the 2018-19 season.

Here’s how the locals did in their fifth week of the NBA season from November 14-20:

Former Utes

Kyle Kuzma – Los Angeles Lakers (9-7)

Kuzma’s minutes were lowered in the first two games of the week against Portland and Orlando. He played 25 minutes and scored 7 points in their win over Portland, and played 27 minutes and scored just 8 points in their loss to Orlando. Prior to that, Kuzma played 30 minutes or more in 8 of their last 9 games. In LeBron’s big 51 point game against Miami, Kuzma added 15 points in just 21 minutes.

NEXT UP: The Lakers have four games during week six as they will travel to Cleveland before hosting Utah and Orlando. They will finish the week on the road against Denver.


Jakob Poeltl – San Antonio Spurs (8-8)

The former Ute had his best week as a member of the San Antonio Spurs. He had 7 points and 9 rebounds in their loss to the Phoenix Suns. Poeltl added a season-high 11 points and four rebounds in 15 minutes of play in the Spurs loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.

NEXT UP: The Spurs will play four games during week six as they will host Memphis before traveling to Indiana, Milwaukee and Chicago.


Delon Wright – Toronto Raptors (14-4)

Wright logged 13 minutes or more in all four games during week five. He scored seven points in back-to-back games in the Raptors loss to the Boston Celtics and their win over the Chicago Bulls.

NEXT UP: Toronto’s four games in week six will begin on the road against Atlanta before playing Washington and Miami at home. They finish the week with a visit to Memphis.

 


Former Wildcats

Damian Lillard – Portland Trail Blazers (12-5)

Lillard had a great week for the Trail Blazers. He started the week with 31 points and 11 assists against the Lakers. The former Wildcat dropped 40 points in their win over the Wizards before finishing the week with a 29-point performance and added 8 assists at Madison Square Garden when the Blazers beat the New York Knicks. A game where he hit a key 13-foot jump shot with 44.7 seconds left to give the Blazers a four point lead.

NEXT UP: Portland will be on the road for two games against Milwaukee and Golden State before finishing the week at home against the LA Clippers.

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