The Defense Is Key For The Kings Win Over The Blazers

The Sacramento Kings secured a much-needed victory on Tuesday night, and they have their defense to thank.

Last night’s victory over the Portland Trail Blazers was especially important, given the Sacramento Kings upcoming slate of games against the Lakers and Celtics. But their fourth victory in five games was not an easy task for a team still looking to find chemistry with their starting point guard hitting the injured list.

A three-day break helped the team focus on defense before the game, and it showed from beginning to end. After the announcement that De’Aaron Fox would be missing time, Sacramento could have folded. Instead, Luke Walton used it as a time to see if the deep bench could handle the job.

Gritty Offensive First Half

Sacramento was held to just ten points over the first ten minutes of game time. Defensively, the Kings did a solid job of making the Blazers work for their buckets and sticking to the game plan of defense and rebounding. They stopped the early Blazers run and got the offense rolling with Bogdan Bogdanovic taking charge in the first half, which kept the Kings in the game going into halftime.

Portland went into the locker room leading 49-46.  With Cory Joseph and Harrison Barnes going scoreless in the first half, it was Bogdanovic and Nemanja Bjelica carrying the offensive load in the first two quarters.

Kings Turn Third Quarter Tables

Ending the history of third quarters woe’s, Sacramento put up 35 points in the third frame to the Blazers 21, giving the Kings a lead that would never really be threatened. Barnes stepped up in the third period with eight points, scoring big buckets when it looked like Portland was poised to make a run.

The fourth quarter continued the Kings trend of scoring by committee that started when the shots started falling in the second half.  When the Kings turned the ball over twice at the two-minute mark and needed a score, it was Joseph and Bogdanovic who stepped up and made plays. With two core players out for weeks, the players as a group found a way to win.

Joseph had only one bucket in the contest, but it might have been the biggest shot of the game.  With Portland threatening late in the fourth quarter, his three-point shot from the corner put the Kings up by nine with two minutes to play.

Stats

Assist Total:

Kings 24, Blazers 15

Rebounds:

Kings 46, Blazers 40

Steals:

Kings 9, Blazers 5

Three Kings players ended the game with a double-double.  Bjelica scored 19 points and added 12 rebounds. Richaun Holmes went for 11 and 10, and Bogdanovic had 10 assists to go along with his 25 point performance.