With Aldridge all but out of the scoring picture the Blazers couldn't exert their customary defense-bending, open-shot-creating sets. Cousins and point guard Isaiah Thomas should be commended for their work in this regard. All of this happened in the space of 5-6 seconds, not long enough for Aldridge to see his way out of trouble, let alone for Portland passes to find open targets. Once DeMarcus arrived on the scene they felt comfortable leaving him in single coverage for Aldridge to shoot over, sending the initial defenders back to their men. Several times they sent more help in the form of Cousins, big and quick enough to close before Aldridge could react. They doubled as he caught the ball, using a small to delay him. The Kings took advantage of mobility to harass Aldridge something fierce. Several factors combined to make this one of Portland's worst quarters of the season. The veil came off in the third period and the exposed picture wasn't very pretty. Sacramento trimmed 6 off of Portland's first-quarter lead but the Blazers still walked into the locker room with a healthy 60 points scored and a 5-point advantage.
Those charity tosses, plus a breakdown by the Kings' defense in the final minute of the period, disguised how badly the Blazers were faring.
Meanwhile Portland's offense struggled mightily in the latter half of the second, buoyed only by free throw trips. Then the Kings sent DeMarcus Cousins back in. The Blazers called a timeout to right the ship for about 2 minutes. Derrick Williams and Quincy Acy started the procession. You know how you can go to certain amusement parks and pay extra for a "speed pass" that lets you shortcut the long lines everybody else is standing in for the most popular rides? Well the rim was Space Mountain tonight and Sacramento's mommy and daddy sprang for the plastic so they could go first. Other than that it was all about the lane. Jimmer Fredette gave them 1 three-pointer. It took the Kings 2 minutes and 49 seconds to trim an 11-point deficit to 2. Portland cruised out of the first with a 35-24 lead, all according to plan.Īs the second quarter commenced Portland's reserved looked at their Sacramento counterparts and said, "You think that was bad defense? We'll show you bad defense!" And so they did. The only thing working for the Kings in the period was their usual Hillbilly Offense: scoring with Cousins or nothing. Negligent defense, reaching instead of moving, and hair-trigger refs combined to swamp the home team. Things got worse when the Kings' second unit came in. Lopez and friends feasted on the offensive glass, killing any momentum Sacramento tried to build. He hit free-throw line "J's", layups, dunks.you name it.
When the Kings moved to shut off Aldridge, Robin Lopez went to work. LaMarcus Aldridge alternated between jumpers and multiple free throws, scoring 11 in the period. The Blazers started hot behind their big men. In a reversal of recent fortune,the first quarter provided 12 of Portland's good 16 minutes. The Blazers dropped their second straight game and their 4th in the last 6, losing 123-119 in Sacramento. The Portland Trail Blazers tried to follow their tried-and-true formula of turning 16 good minutes of play into a victory tonight but the Sacramento Kings, themselves familiar with that kind of play, were having none of it.