Sacramento, CA (SportsNetwork.com) – Rudy Gay posted a game and season-best 40
points along with eight rebounds as Sacramento picked up its first win of the
year with a 103-94 triumph over Portland on Friday night.
DeMarcus Cousins and Darren Collison each contributed 17 points for the Kings,
who shook off a season-opening 18-point loss to Golden State on Wednesday.
LaMarcus Aldridge totaled 22 points and Damian Lillard poured in 20 for the
Blazers, who were coming off a 17-point home win against Oklahoma City
two days prior.
Wesley Matthews hit from long distance and Portland was up 77-73 early in the
fourth, but Omri Casspi’s layup just over three minutes in triggered a
momentum-turning 13-0 run which gave the Kings the lead for good.
Gay followed with five in a row including a trey, Cousins added a bucket,
Collison made two from the charity stripe and Cousins ended the burst with two
more from the line to make it 86-77.
Gay later connected on both his free-throw attempts with 2:39 to play and
Sacramento was up 92-81. Portland was unable to close the gap to less than six
the rest of the way.
Aldridge scored 11 first-quarter points but the Blazers trailed 26-24 after 12
minutes of action. Things were tight again in the second period, which ended
in a 48-48 deadlock thanks to a pair of Chris Kaman shots sandwiched around a
Collison jumper.
The Kings’ lead swelled to 62-52 with four minutes elapsed in the third thanks
to seven points from Gay, and it was 69-58 for the hosts with 4:18 left after
a Gay three-pointer, but the Blazers battled back to knot the score heading to
the fourth, 71-71, thanks to six points from Aldridge.
Game Notes
Gay shot 13-of-19 from the floor including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc, and
made 11 of his 13 free throws … Matthews ended up with 16 points for
Portland … Collison had eight of Sacramento’s 14 assists and three of his
club’s six steals.
