Sacramento Kings forward Keegan Murray left Friday’s preseason game against the Portland Trail Blazers after suffering an injury late in the first half.
Keegan Murray scored nine points on 4-of-7 shooting with five rebounds and two steals in the opening half of a 124-123 loss to the Blazers at Moda Center in Portland. The Kings later announced Murray would not return for the second half due to a left thumb injury.
Zach LaVine scored 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting with five 3-pointers for the Kings (0-2). Rookie first-round draft pick Nique Clifford came off the bench to score 15 points.
Dario Saric scored 14 points, Drew Eubanks had 11 and DeMar DeRozan added 10 for Sacramento. Domantas Sabonis was held to eight points, four rebounds and three assists while being plagued by foul trouble.
Jerami Grant scored 18 points to lead the Blazers (1-1). Shaedon Sharpe had 17 points and six rebounds. Yang Hansen scored 16 points, Deni Avdija had 15 and Blake Wesley added 13 for Portland.
The Kings were coming off a 130-122 loss to the Toronto Raptors in their preseason opener. The Blazers were coming off a 129-123 loss to the Golden State Warriors.
Halftime report
The Kings got off to a stronger start than they did against the Raptors, outscoring the Blazers 9-2 over the first three minutes after making four of their first three field-goal attempts.
Sacramento went up 22-14 before Portland staged a 12-1 run to take a 26-23 lead. Sabonis went to the bench after picking up three fouls in the first eight minutes. The Kings trailed 37-31 at the end of the first quarter. The Blazers shot 52.6% from the field and made 14 of 18 free throws in the opening period.
The Kings came back to take a 51-50 lead with their starters on the floor in the second quarter. They led 64-58 at the halftime break behind a big first half from LaVine, who scored 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting while going 4 of 5 from 3-point range.
The pace of play was dreadful in the opening half with the Kings and Blazers combining to shoot 45 free throws while being whistled for 33 personal fouls.
Second-half summary
The Kings trailed 73-69 when Sabonis went to the bench with his fifth foul with 6:40 to play in the third quarter. Hansen, a 7-foot-1 rookie from China, scored 14 points in the third period to help the Blazers maintain the lead.
Portland opened up a 104-91 lead after outscoring Sacramento 9-0 to start the fourth quarter. The Kings were down 108-97 before staging a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to four on a 3-pointer by Saric with 5:50 to go.
The Kings later tied the game on a dunk by Devin Carter and took a 117-115 lead on two free throws by Clifford with 2:09 remaining. The Kings again tied the game on a putback dunk by Maxime Raynaud with 10.8 seconds to go, but the Blazers prevailed when Caleb Love made the second of two free throws with 0.6 seconds remaining.
Up next
The Kings will play the third of four preseason games when they entertain the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. They will conclude preseason play when they visit the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday at Crypto.com Arena.
Preseason schedule
10/15 vs. Los Angeles Clippers
10/17 at Los Angeles Lakers