Trail Blazers 96, Kings 85

Trail Blazers 96, Kings 85

THE FACT: The Portland Trail Blazers led by as many as 22 points tonight and completed the back-to-back sweep of the Sacramento Kings despite a 1-for-15 shooting night from leading scorer Damian Lillard.
THE LEAD: The Trail Blazers (4-2) picked up their second win against the Sacramento Kings (1-5) in as many nights, beating the home team by a final of 96-85.
Sacramento cut the lead to seven in the final three minutes, but couldn't complete the comeback against a deep Portland team.
The Blazers went to All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge early and often and the big man responded with a big 22-point, 14-rebound performance. Wesley Matthews added 21 points for Portland as they improved to 4-2 on the season.
After scoring 35 points last night at the Moda Center, DeMarcus Cousins backed it up tonight with a big 33-point, 12-rebound game. Rookie Ben McLemore came off the bench to score 13 for the Kings and Isaiah Thomas added 12 in the loss.
QUOTABLE: "I'm not going to go shoot a thousand jumpers because I went 1-for-15. It's not going to happen too often, I know that."
-- Lillard on his rough night shooting.
THE STAT: The Trail Blazers killed the Kings on the glass, winning the rebound battle 52-33.
TURNING POINT: Portland pulled away in the third quarter, outscoring the Kings 24-16 and taking a 69-54 lead into the fourth. The Kings battled back, but never got closer than seven.
QUOTABLE II: "I'm just playing basketball. Taking what the game is giving me. I'm not forcing anything, I'm not rushing anything."
-- Matthews.
HOT: Matthews could do no wrong tonight for Portland. The veteran shooting guard scored 19 points on 7-for-10 shooting in the win. Matthews is now shooting 56.5 percent from the field and 53.3 percent from the field in the Blazers first six games.
HOT II: Cousins got it going in the second half, scoring 25 of his 33 points after the intermission.
NOT: It's a good thing Portland didn't need their leading scorer tonight. Lillard finished the night with four points.
NOTABLE: Former first round pick Jimmer Fredette played for just the second time this season, finishing with four points in 19 minutes.
NOTABLE II: The Sacramento Kings have now lost five in a row after winning their season opener against the Denver Nuggets.
UP NEXT: For the Portland, Monday vs. Detroit, Wednesday vs. Phoenix, Friday @ Boston. For the Kings, Wednesday vs. Brooklyn, Friday vs. Pistons, Sunday vs. Memphis.