Sacramento Kings ruin Wesley Matthews’ 31 points to win 104-103
This was a game for the guards, with no LaMarcus Aldridge or Jamal Crawford suiting up, the bench players saw crazy amounts of time as the season is coming quickly to a close. A quick road trip down I-5 to Sacramento and the lowly Kings (20-41) was in store for the Trail Blazers (28-33) and were looking for the season series win over the Kings who have recently found more trouble in the future as recent talks to give the Kings a new arena fell flat this weekend and it’s yet to be determined how long the Kings will still reside in California’s capital.
It was the same scenario for the 40 minutes: Portland take the lead, build it to as much as 10-11 and watch Sacramento climb back and gun a quick run to cut the lead down to two or tie. Portland would regain the lead and this back and forth style of play was the name of the game. As said earlier, the guards had a field day, especially Wesley Matthews who was smoking hot from three-point territory as he could do no wrong from either side of the court. Nicolas Batum, Raymond Felton and Luke Babbitt would have some nice contributions but it would be Matthews to go and score 31 points. As the Kings battled back in the fourth quarter to actually tie the game for the first time all afternoon at 94, Matthews seems to secure a Blazer win as he gets just enough space to drain a three with 10 seconds left. On the next possession, the Kings’ Marcus Thornton hits the game-winning jumper, giving Sacramento a 104-103 win and a nice win for the city.
No brainer that Wesley Matthews was the man of the game, 31 Pts, 3 Reb, 3 Ast but the stat was 8-10 from downtown on 10-16 shooting. After him it would be Raymond Felton for 19 Pts, 4 Ast but a clumsy turnover ended up being free throws to DeMarcus Cousins. Nicolas Batum had 14 Pts, 4 Reb, 3 Ast and 2-5 from three, former King J.J. Hickson who was let go at the trade deadline had something to prove to his former team and was everywhere in the first quarter but kept quiet later on, 10 Pts, 13 Reb and 2 Blk.
Portland ended up shooting 52% from the floor and 16-32 from three as a team and still lost in the lasting minutes. Tyreke Evans, DeMarcus Cousins and Marcus Thorton combined for 63 points for Sacramento. They collected 58 points in the paint to Portland’s 30 and scored 19 points off of Portland’s 17 turnovers.
photo courtesy of oregonlive.com/blazers
Nicholas Filipas