Cousins, Salmons carry Sacramento Kings to a 99-80 win over Portland Trail Blazers – NBA Recap
Sacramento Kings dominated the first quarter, got loose in the second, but then erupted after the interval to get their first three win streak this season, beating the Portland Trail Blazers 99-80 at the Rose Garden on Saturday
night.
"It feels good," John Salmons, who scored 19 points and dished out 11 assists on the night, said after the game. "Especially coming off two home wins, to go on the road and get that third win. Hopefully, we can continue doing that."
DeMarcus Cousins scored a double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds, Aaron Brooks added 14 points on a 6 of 10 shooting while Francisco Garcia and Jason Thompson chipped in 12 each for the 7-12 Kings. Thompson also hauled down
8 rebounds and made two steals.
LaMarcus Aldridge once again led the Trail Blazers with 17 points, on 5-of-14 shooting, and 10 rebounds while J.J. Hickson had 14 points and 15 boards for Portland, who are failing to maintain a level of consistency so far this
season.
Aldridge was not happy with his performance;
"This was definitely a tough night for us," said Aldridge. "We started off kind of sluggish, especially myself. I just felt like it was one of those nights where I couldn't find my legs."
With five more games to go in a home stretch, the hosts also saw Wesley Matthews (hip) and Nicolas Batum (back) suffer from injuries. Aldridge seemed concerned about the injuries to his team-mates;
"We hope they're OK. We don't need those two guys out for any stretch of time. We don't want there to be anything serious wrong with them."
Portland committed nine turnovers in the first quarter alone as the Kings raced off and scored 30 points to take a 12 point lead after one. Luke Babbitt started the second quarter with back-to-back triples for the hosts and 9-2
run midway through the quarter made it a two point game at 33-35. Portland finally managed to level the scores at 41 with 30.5 second remaining in the half, before a Thompson layup gave the Kings a 43-41 lead going in to the third.
The Kings made a strong return after the break, starting off with a 14-6 run that pushed their advantage to 57-47. They stretched it to 12 till the end of the third and never allowed the Trail Blazers to come within single digits
after that.
Tags: