KINGS' BRAD MILLER HEADBAND NIGHT (NO PHOTOSHOP)
The Kings owe this win to Beno Udrih's 1st quarter and John Salmons' huge 2nd half. Otherwise this game could have been a bigger struggle. Up by as much as 20 points in the 2nd quarter, the Kings almost blew their huge lead when the Blazers came within 4 points. Even though it looked tough, the Kings eventually pulled off their 3rd straight win against Portland to take the season series 3-1.
Before I get to the game, let me get to where the headbands come in. Most of the Kings wore headbands in honor of Brad Miller, who's out for the rest of the season. He was thought to have a lower leg strain when he blew a wide open dunk against the Clippers, which I saw when I was there. It turned out to be a stress fracture, and he had a bone chip in his elbow. Miller had successful surgery the day before to remove the bone chip.
Kevin Martin, who normally doesn't wear a headband, was the first to volunteer to wear one. "Kevin was the first to say he would wear it and everyone else jumped on after that,'' said Salmons, who always wears one. "I was thinking if you miss a couple of shots don't blame the headband on me.''
Even Kings' coach Reggie Theus had a little fun with it, even though he didn't wear one. “Cisco was asking me why I left him on the bench for so long in the first half," Theus said with a smile. "It was because I didn’t recognize him."
He also left a hint that what I call "Headband Night" might come back. “We’d have to have a lot more wins for me to do that," Theus said laughing.
Beno Udrih had other plans with the headband(s). "I never wear it before so I'm not going to do that,'' he said afterward in the locker room. "Look, I have three headbands in my locker because they kept throwing them at me, saying 'come on wear one, wear one. I support Brad, but I’ve never worn one before and I don’t have a bald head like the other guys.''
In fact, earlier in the season, Miller stopped wearing his headband and had some of the best games of his career. The only other King not to wear a headband was Shelden Williams. The last time I remember a whole team wore headbands was the Phoenix Suns this season during Heritage Week against Seattle. They were losing to the Sonics, so they took them off and won the game. All except D.J. Strawberry.
1ST QUARTER
The Blazers got of to a 4-0 start, but Udrih helped the 8-6 lead, making 6 staight points. After that, it was all Sacramento. Martin had a dunk to push the momentum the Kings way while Udrih went 5-5 from the field for 10 points and sparked a 12-2 run. He didn't make a shot after the quarter ended and finished with 11 points on 5-8 shooting. Rookie center Spencer Hawes was making his shots with 6 points early in his 4th career start. Enter Francisco Garcia in place of Shelden Williams. The first thing Cisco does is dish out an alley-oop to K-Mart. At the end of an exciting quarter, the Kings led 29-18.
2ND QUARTER
You can tell the Blazers are in trouble when Raef LaFrentz steps out on the court. He's played 7 games before, since the beginning of March. Quincy Douby came out with his headband and made 2 straight 3 pointers. Maybe he should keep his headband on. Not only that, Cisco made one right after that. It's gotta be the headbands. That started a 17-4 going into the quarter, putting the Kings up 42-22. K-Mart had another big dunk off of Hawes' high post passing. Despite everything was going well for the Kings, the Blazers went on an 11-4 run to close out the quarter, trailing 51-41.
3RD QUARTER
Kings fans were starting to get concerned. That 11-4 run turned into a 17-6 run spilling into the 2nd half. LaMarcus Aldridge was starting to light up the Kings and led the team to trail 57-53. He had 12 points in the quarter. In comes NBA TV's favorite bench player John Salmons, who actually started in place of the injured Ron Artest. Nicknamed "Super-Sub" by one of the broadcasters there, Salmons scored 10 points in the quarter to help revive the Kings and keep them out of trouble by scoring and playing great defense. Thanks to Salmons, the Kings led with a comfortable 78-62 score.
4TH QUARTER
The Kings got some bad news when K-Mart left to the locker room. He had a strained knee and wouldn't play for the rest of the night. With their leading scorer out for the game, Hawes, Douby, Salmons, Garcia, Moore and their headbands would have to fend off the Blazers looking to stay above .500. They alreday closed in on them once, they wouldn't let them do it again.
Douby would start where he left off by scoring the first basket. Travis Outlaw would answer back with two straight jumpers. After 2 minutes of either team scoring, Channing Frye broke through with a jumper of his own. After that, Salmons took over. He scored 7 straight points, including gettting fouled on 2 drives and making both shots and free throws. Garcia made 6 straight points after that and after a Mikki Moore jump shot, Douby capped it off with a 3 pointer. Josh McRoberts appeared at the end, but the Kings run away with a victory 103-86.
HIGHLIGHTS
* = Team High
** = Game High
KINGS
Salmons: 18 pts*, 6 reb, 4 ast*, 2 stl* (all pts in 2nd half)
Martin: 16 pts, 7 reb*, 3 ast, blk*, stl (DNP 4th qtr, knee strain)
Hawes: 15 pts, 7 reb*, 3 ast, stl
Garcia: 16 pts, 2 reb, 2 ast, stl (bench)
Douby: 13 pts, 2 reb, 2 stl* (bench)
Moore: 10 pts, 5 reb, 3 ast, blk*
Udrih: 11 pts, 3 reb, 3 ast (1st start since back injury)
Williams: 4 pts, 7 reb*, blk*, ast (bench)
BLAZERS
Aldridge: 24 pts**, 15 reb** (5 off.**) 3 blk**, 3 stl**
Frye: 15 pts, 14 reb, ast
Outlaw: 18 pts, 2 reb, ast (bench)
Jarret Jack: 10 pts, 4 reb, 7 ast** (bench)
Brandon Roy: 12 pts, 4 ast, 2 stl, reb
Blake: 2 pts, 3 reb, 5 ast, blk, stl
LaFrentz: 2 pts, 2 reb, blk (bench)
Sergio Rodriguez: 2 pts, ast (bench)
McRoberts: 0 pts, 2 reb, 2 min (bench)
Von Wafer: 1 pt, 1 reb, 2 min (bench)
It's a great win for the Kings as spoilers. They might have spoiled Portland's chance to finish with a winning record. Eight players played and all but Williams finished in double figures in scoring, but he had a team high in rebounds. It's unknown if Martin will be ready for tongiht's game against the New Orleans Hornets, the second night of a home back-to-back. The Hornets just came of to the Lakers and it'll be a road back-to-back for them The Kings are already short-handed with Miller out and Artest questionable every game for the rest of the season. They played well without them in the 4th quarter, and they played well with the whole team last time against the Hornets.
The thing I like about this win is that the Kings used balance. No player stood out for the rest with the exception of Salmons scoring all 18 points in the 2nd half. In the end, no one player really stands out, like what the Pistons did all year. Their leading scorer, Rip Hamilton, averages only 17 PPG. It's balance that can help a team win games.
For the Blazers, the 17point loss to the Kings goes right up with the 21 point loss at San Antonio, 20 point loss at New Orleans and their 17 point loss in Denver. The Kings gave the Blazers their worst home loss at the time, beating them by 11 points Feb. 19. The Suns came in March 4th and beat the Blazers at home by 13 points. They're 39-40 and under .500 for the first time since Dec. 14. The Blazers haven't had a winning record in 5 years and play against the Mavs tonight on the road-home back-to-back. Roy, who didn't take a shot in the first half said, "I want to have a winning record, if we get above .500 it's more for your own pride."
Not only Roy was cold, James Jones went 0-6 and didn't tally a point. Roy didn't even have to deal with Artest killing him on the floor, but still played a below average game.
The Kings had a great win, and look to take the top seeded Hornets, who are 1/2 a game ahead of the Lakers.
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