When David Jackson played for Oregon, the guard received very little time on McArthur Court.
Injuries kept him from extensive time with the Ducks. Thursday, however, he made a return to Eugene as a Portland Trailblazer, and the Oregon fans sure didn’t forget him.
Sacramento defeated Portland, 111-100, in front of 7,998 at McArthur in both teams’ second exhibition game of the season.
For the Trail Blazers, the game was mostly an opportunity to get players into shape and to shake off the offensive cobwebs. For Jackson, the game was an opportunity to impress Portland head coach Maurice Cheeks.
With the regular season approaching fast, the Blazers will have to whittle their roster down to 12. Jackson is doing every thing he can to be one of those.
“I’m having to take in a lot in a short amount of time, (but) come hell or high water, I’ll figure it out one way or another,” he said. “I don’t think I hurt (my chances) any. I didn’t shoot the ball like myself tonight. It’s a little bit tougher trying to run that offense when you’ve got guys that are such great individual players.”
Jackson finished the game 0 of 5 from the field. He dished out three assists in 17 minutes, but also picked up four fouls while primarily guarding Sacramento guard Mike Bibby.
Bibby finished the night with 16 points on the strength of 8 of 10 shooting from the foul line.
Jackson entered the game with 1:56 left in the first quarter, subbing for Jeff McInnis. Jackson earned one of the loudest ovations of the night from the Oregon faithful when he stepped on the court for the first time.
“That was great,” he said. “Even though I didn’t play much when I was here, they always supported me.”
McInnis finished the night with eight points, and Damon Stoudamire played just eight minutes. Cheeks said after the game that Stoudamire could get the start tonight when the Blazers play in Los Angeles against the Clippers.
Jackson’s play against the Clippers and against Seattle on Tuesday could determine his status with the team.
“I think I had him on the floor too much,” Cheeks said, also complimenting the guard’s play. “My intent was to just put some guys in situations that they hadn’t been in before and see if they could handle it.”
Former Oregon State forward Phillip Ricci also saw action. The Sacramento rookie entered the game with 2:54 left in the fourth quarter and immediately missed two shots before draining a jumper with less than a minute left to play.
“It was pretty fun to hear the boos when I checked in,” he said. “It was kind of cool coming back here. I never thought I’d play on this court again.”
The game was closer than the 11-point final deficit indicates. Sacramento pulled away with 5:21 left and went up by 15 when Jabari Smith sank a free throw.
Bonzi Wells led the Blazers with 20 points and former UCLA star Tracy Murray finished with 14.
Predrag Stojakovic paced Sacramento with 18 points.
Overall, Sacramento grabbed 59 rebounds, including 23 on the offensive board. Portland, meanwhile, came up with just 35 total rebounds. Zach Randolph was able to grab eight, but no other Blazer had more than four.
“I don’t think we played very well tonight,” Cheeks said. “The big lineup that we had out on the floor was not conducive for us. I talked about it before, about the lineup against Sacramento. That’s what the preseason is for. It tells you what you can and can’t do, particularly against a team like Sacramento. It is a very good basketball team.”
Sacramento grabbed a four-point lead at the end of the first quarter, but failed to keep Portland at bay early on in the second. The Trail Blazers got within one, 34-33, when Qyntel Woods sank the second of two free throws.
Portland caught up two minutes later, and the teams would trade points heading into halftime.
“With the lineup that we started with, it’s not easy to get out and run,” Cheeks said of the game’s up-tempo pace. “They are more accustomed to it. And they were without (Chris) Webber, who is a big part of their team. That’s what they do. They get up down the floor, they push the ball, they move. They got a lot of points at the foul line.”
More specifically, the Kings posted 28 points from the charity stripe. They did, however, shoot 42 times from the foul line.
Webber didn’t play for the Kings. Portland’s first-round draft choice in the 2003 NBA draft, Travis Outlaw, and veterans Derek Anderson, Robert Pack and Ruben Patterson did not play for the Trail Blazers.
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