PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — With a big night against Golden State, Damian Lillard signaled that he's asserting himself at a crucial point of the Trail Blazers' season. And where Lillard goes, the Blazers tend to follow. “There comes a time in the season where everybody's tired, everybody's worn out, everybody's physically and mentally drained," he said. "The players got to go out there and make their minds up, are we going to do this or not? And I think we're just, as a team, getting closer to that time. We've got to leave it all out there. We've got to go take it.”Lillard had a franchise-best 61 points — including 11 3-pointers — this week in Portland's 129-124 overtime victory over the Warriors.It was the most points for a player in the NBA this season, and it broke Lillard's own franchise record of 60 points set earlier this season against Brooklyn. Afterward, a flood of admirers ranging from reigning NBA Rookie of the Year Luka Doncic to Washington Redskins running back Adrian Peterson recognized... [More]

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Portland Trail Blazers have acquired veteran forward Trevor Ariza from the Sacramento Kings. Portland also gets Wenyen Gabriel and Caleb Swanigan from the Kings in exchange for Kent Bazemore, Anthony Tolliver and two second-round draft picks. Ariza, a 15-year NBA veteran who was on the Lakers' 2009 NBA championship team, has averaged 6.0 points and 4.6 rebounds with the Kings this season. He has also played with New York, Orlando, Houston, New Orleans and Phoenix over his career, averaging 10.5 points and 4.8 rebounds in 1,043 games. Gabriel has played in 11 games this season with an average of 1.7 points, while also playing for the Stockton Kings of the NBA G League. Swanigan was originally selected by the Blazers with the 26th overall pick in the 2017 draft.Bazemore, acquired by the Blazers in the offseason, made 21 starts this season and averaged 7.9 points and four rebounds. Tolliver, who also signed with the Blazers in the offseason, played in 33 games with nine starts and averaged 3.9 points and 3.3 rebounds. The deal was first acknowledged by the players involved over the weekend, but was not made official until Tuesday.