It's been a while the last time I went to a game, but I couldn't pass it up when it was right on my 20th birthday. It was a game of highs and lows as the Kings took on the Portland Trail Blazers for the last time in the pre-season.
1ST QUARTER
My first look at Greg Oden. A 7'0, 285 pound manbeast that you have to see to believe. He won the opening tip against Spencer Hawes. The Blazers got off to a hot 9-2 run led by Steve Blake's 5 points. The Kings had a sluggish start when Hawes picked up 3 fouls and committed 2 TOs in less than 6 minutes to bring soon to be suspended Brad Miller into the game. LaMarcus Aldridge was impressive from the start, scoring 8 points in the period. Kevin Martin, who would be the star of the night got an alley-oop lay-up from the starting point guard Bobby Brown.
The Kings tried to get their rythym going with John Salmons and Mikki Moore scoring 4 points each and Bobby Jackson hit a buzzer beating lay-up at the end of the quarter, but after review it was no basket as the Blazers led 27-19.
2ND QUARTER
The Blazers took off again Channing Frye and Rudy Fernandez hitting two straight 3-pointers. Kenny Thomas looks like he'll be getting regular rotation minutes with the regular season nearing. He scored his only 4 points in the quarter. Martin had the highlight of the night crossing over Fernandez and dunking over Oden and Aldridge sending excitement around the whole arena. Fernandez would go on to make two straight 3-pointers later in the quarter, but the Kings were making a run, trailing 57-50 at the half.
3RD QUARTER
Martin would be on fire. He scored 13 of his 27 total points that he had up to that point. Through 5 games this pre-season he's shooting a scorching 60.9% from the field. Aldridge was hot too as he put up 8 of his 23 points. The Kings were down by as much as 11 points and were within 2 points of the Blazers, they failed to capitalize as the Blazers led 80-76, and it stayed that way.
4TH QUARTER
The Blazers took off running when Fernandez got a alley-oop reverse dunk from Sergio Rodriguez, and it was all downhill for the Kings after that. The Kings came within 3 points but the Blazers went on a 27-12 run to close out the game as the Kings dropped to 1-7 in a 112-98 loss while Portland closed out their pre-season 3-2. Salmons was the only help to the Martin with 27 points.
HIGHlLIGHTS
Team High=*
Game High=**
(R)= Rookie
KINGS
Martin: 34 pts** (10-13 FG), 2 stl, blk, 4 TOs*
Salmons: 27 pts (10-18 FG), 5 reb, 5 ast, 3 stl*, 2 TOs
(R) Jason Thompson: 6 pts, 6 reb, (4 off.)
Moore: 6 pts, 6 reb, stl
(R) Brown: 8 pts, 3 reb, 3 ast, stl, 2 TOs
BLAZERS
Aldridge: 24 pts, 6 reb, 5 ast, 4 stl**, blk
Brandon Roy: 21 pts, 3 reb, 2 ast, stl, 2 TO
(R) Oden: 13 pts, 9 reb** (6 off.**), 3 ast, stl, 2 blk, 5 TOs**
(R) Fernandez: 16 pts, 3 reb, 2 ast, stl, blk, 2 TOs
Even without starting point guard Beno Udrih and 6th man Francisco Garcia due to injury, it was a pretty bad loss for the Kings because they had the chance to win. The same problems have been plaguing the Kings for two years now. Defending the perimeter, rebounding and assist-to-turnover ratio. The Blazers let loose with wide open three pointers shooting 12-25 from behind the arc. They outrebounded the Kings 41-29 and the Kings had 14 assists and 20 turnovers.
Sacramento will have trouble getting 35 wins this season if they don't change their habits. The run game was not there last night, which could have been a game changer. Every time the Kings gave-up the ball to another player, they just tried to penetrate. They also have no one underneath the basket to try to get an offensive rebound almost every time. They're going to disappoint fans who watch them every night playing like that every night. Until they learn how to play defense, fans have to remember they're still in rebuilding mode.
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