Tag: Portland Trail Blazers

Portland hands Sacramento a 98-94 loss

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment
NBA: Portland Trail Blazers at Sacramento Kings
Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports

by Charlie O. Mallonee

Sacramento – The young Portland Trail Blazers outworked the Sacramento Kings on Sunday night and walked away with a 98-94 victory on the road.

The Blazers won the without their star player – Damian Lillard – who is sidelined with left plantar fasciitis.

There were two keys to the Portland (13-20) victory. The first key was the play of guard CJ McCollum who scored 35 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and recorded 9 assists for a solid double-double game.

The second key to the Trail Blazers win was the solid play of their bench. The Portland bench outscored the Kings bench 42-23. Meyers Leonard (16) and Maurice Harkless (13) provided strong play and scoring while the starters were on the bench.

The Trail Blazers demonstrated energy and effort that the Kings were unable to match. This game was the first time this season the Kings lost after leading at halftime. Sacramento was 10-0 when they took a lead to the locker room at the half until Sunday night.

Sacramento (12-18) lacked consistency versus Portland. Their offense was stagnant.

DeMarcus Cousins led the way for the Kings putting up 36 points. Cousins was 12-for-26 from the floor while going 2-for-7 from beyond the 3-point line. When your center leads the team in 3-point attempts, that spells trouble for the offense.

Rudy Gay (7 points) was 2-for-12 shooting. Starting shooting guard Ben McLemore (5) took just one shot from the floor in his 19 minutes of playing time.

The Kings shot 39.5-percent from the field (30-for-76). It is almost impossible to win a game in the NBA when your team shoots under 40-percent.

The other major problem the Kings experienced in the game was turnovers. They committed 23 turnovers in the contest. Those turnovers led to 28 Portland points. A team cannot be that careless with the ball and expect to win.

For Sacramento, it was a very disappointing loss because this was a game that they should have won on their home court. A win would have moved the Kings into the eighth spot in Western Conference by percentage points. This is the type of loss that keeps teams out of the playoffs.

Things get no easier for the Kings as they have to face the Golden State Warriors in Oakland on Monday night. Sacramento will to bring its “A-game” just to be competitive against the best team in the Association.

 

Kings Can’t Close Out Portland, Drop Fourth Straight.

Published on by swhelchLeave a comment

By Shawn Whelchel

The Kings couldn’t hold on to a fourth quarter lead Monday night, as the Portland Trail Blazers completed their late comeback to hand Sacramento a 98-94 loss.

The Kings, who have now dropped four in a row, held a 87-86 lead with a little over 2 and-a-half minutes to go in the fourth. But Portland’s Damian Lillard lead the late charge, dumping in 6 of his 22 points in the last 90 seconds of play to secure the win.

Portland left the door open for a late Sacramento tie, as Lillard and Nicolas Batum missed 3-of-6 free throws in the waning seconds of the game to keep it a one score game.

But a miss by Rudy Gay and a Darren Collison turnover sealed the Kings fate as Portland held on for the win following a Batum free throw.

Lillard’s team-high 22 points were accompanied by six rebounds and five assists. Gay lead all scorers on the night with 26 points for Sacramento. He was followed by DeMarcus Cousins who added 22 points of his own while hauling in 19 rebounds.

The Kings continue to be hurt by sloppy play after a total of 23 turnovers contributed to 29 Portland points. Sacramento will look to get back on track against the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday.

 

 

Kings Lose Again

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment

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By Charlie O. Mallonee

The Sacramento Kings suffered their fifth consecutive loss on Saturday night to the Portland Trail Blazers 96-85. The Kings trailed by as many as 20 points but made a comeback late in the fourth quarter. It was too little and too late.

In his post-game comments, Coach Michael Malone said his team needs to be more physical on defense. His team allowed the Blazers to pull down 19 offensive rebounds which created second and third chance opportunities for Portland to score.

Malone made no bones about what is going to happen before the Kings next game versus Brooklyn. He said, “… there will be changes.” He stated after six games he had seen enough to know that changes have to be made.

Malone also said that the Kings comeback attempts are coming too late in the game to give the team a chance to win. He knows his team has a great deal of work to do on both ends of the floor.

The Kings were outscored in three of the four quarters on Saturday night. They did manage to outscore the Blazers 31-27 in the final period.

On Friday night, the Kings were undone by the combination of LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard. Lillard scored just four points on Saturday in 36:45 minutes of playing time.

It was the combination of Aldridge and Wesley Matthews who inflected the pain on Saturday. Aldridge shot 10 for 19 from the floor scoring a team leading 22 points. Matthews was 8 for 11 from the field putting up 21 points for the game.

Coach Malone felt the play of Matthews was one the keys to Portland’s victory. He felt Matthews just scored at will.

Four of the five Portland starters scored in double figures. As a team, the Blazers shot 43.9% (36-82) from the field. That was well below their 48.8% of Friday night, but things became sloppy for the Blazers in the fourth quarter.

The Trail Blazers out rebounded the Kings 52-33. They also kept the Kings out of the paint in the first half forcing them take low percentage outside shots.

After the game Portland Head Coach Terry Stotts said,”It’s good to get a win. Back-to-back wins against the same team is not easy to do. The Kings are a good home team here. They’ve come back on everybody that they’ve played. It’s good to get out of here with a win. We played three good quarters of very good defense; they just made a strong run at the end.”

DeMarcus Cousins scored 30 plus points for the second consecutive game. Cousins finished with 33 points and 12 rebounds. He scored 15 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter. Cousins led all scorers in the game.

Isaiah Thomas added 12 points but only two of those points came in the second half. Thomas played just 17:20 minutes in the game. Greivis Vasquez played 32:19 at the point and scored six points plus he had five assists.

The play of Ben McLemore was one of the highlights for the Kings on Saturday night. The rookie played 27:30 minutes scoring 13 points. He was three for three from 3-point land and shot 50.0% (4-8) from the field. McLemore pulled down three rebounds along with one steal and one assist.

12 of the 13 Kings players saw playing time versus the Blazers. Only Ray McCallum did not enter the game for Sacramento.

The Kings shot 46.2% (36-78) for the game. Sacramento shot an abysmal 25.0% (3-12) from beyond the 3-point line.

The Kings coaching staff must search for answers between now and Wednesday when the Brooklyn Nets come to Sleep Train Arena.

That search for answers has already begun. As I walked to my car after the game, I observed Coach Malone and two of his assistants standing in the parking lot talking about what they should do to change things.

 

 

 

 

Dismal second half drowns Warriors, lose 90-74 to the Trail Blazers

Published on by gabeschapiroLeave a comment

By Gabe Schapiro

In their final preseason tune-up, in what wasn’t a particularly well-played game for either side, the Golden State Warriors were defeated by the Portland Trail Blazers, 90-74. The Warriors had a solid first half, but the wheels fell off from there, doing more damage then they could overcome. Golden State finishes the preseason with a 3-4 record.

Coming out of the gate it was the Warriors who looked more crisp and ready to play. Portland was extremely sloppy, thanks in part to strong defensive play from Golden State, turning the ball over seven times and shooting just 33% from the field in the first quarter. The Warriors, on the other hand, turned the ball over just once. They made a few mistakes but as a whole played well. Klay Thompson led the way with eight points. Andre Iguodala chipped in another five. Damian Lillard was the only thing keeping the Trail Blazers in the game with seven points. At the end of one the Warriors had a 23-16 lead.

The second quarter saw both benches get extended play. The Trail Blazers started finding their shot and chipped away at the lead, but never managed to overtake it. Golden State’s starters returned and grabbed a hold of the momentum again. Curry caught fire, scoring eight points in the quarter including a big three-pointer in the waning seconds that lifted the fans to their feet. For Portland it was Mo Williams’ turn to keep them in the game, coming off the bench to the tune of 11 points in the quarter. It wasn’t enough, however, and through 24 minutes of play, the Warriors maintained their seven-point lead, 48-41.

Coming out of the locker room Golden State scored a quick three points to give them their biggest lead of the game at 11. From there, however, they completely lost their shot and things got ugly. Portland went on a 22-0 run, fueled in large part by Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge, before the Warriors finally found the bottom of the net again with a little over two minutes to play in the quarter. After out-scoring Golden State 25-9 in the third, the Trail Blazers had grabbed a 66-57 lead.

The Warriors made a small push in the fourth quarter, at one point going on a 7-0 run, but they would never seriously threat re-taking the lead. Fans started heading for the exits in packs with several minutes remaining, as the Trail Blazers eased their way to victory.

Lillard had a game-high 21 points. Aldridge (16 points, 12 rebounds) and Nicolas Batum (10 points, 15 rebounds) both finished with double-doubles.

For Golden State Curry led the scoring with 17 points and a game-high six assists. Thompson finished with 16 points and five rebounds.

For the Warriors the regular season begins next Wednesday, October 30 when they will be taking on the LA Lakers at Oracle Arena.