Trail Blazers 105, Kings 93
PORTLAND -- The Portland Trail Blazers took care of business against the short-handed Sacramento Kings on Monday night.
With the Kings resting starters DeMarcus Cousins, Rudy Gay and Rajon Rondo, the Blazers had their way at Moda Center. Portland led nearly all the way and by as many as 28 points en route to a 105-93 victory.
The Blazers improved their playoff hopes, upping their record to 39-36, including 24-12 at home.
The Kings, who are all but out of the Western Conference postseason race, fell to 29-45.
Portland shot 47.5 percent from the field and hit 14 of 29 shots from 3-point range. The Blazers got a lot of players into the act, too, with reserve guard Allen Crabbe scoring a team-high 21 points to pace six Portland players in double figures.
For the Kings, Omri Casspi had 18 points.
The Kings' kiddie corps came out with some spunk. The Kings used their energy to run with the Blazers, take the ball to the basket off the dribble, get second-chance scores and stay even at 31-31 until a late little spurt by Portland gave the home team a 37-32 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Guard CJ McCollum, who scored 25 points and had the winning three-point play in Portland's Saturday home win over Philadelphia, picked up where he left off, scoring nine of his 16 points in seven first-quarter minutes. But one of the Blazers' young guns, forward Moe Harkless, had 10 of his 12 points in the first quarter to lead the Portland front line.
The Blazers created some separation in the second quarter and led 68-52 at the break, shooting 55.6 percent from the field.
Portland had four players in double figures in the first half, with Harkless and fellow starting forward Al-Farouq Aminu each getting 12 points, while Casspi led the Kings with 14 points.
Any remaining hope the Kings had disappeared in the first half of the third quarter, as the Blazers extended their lead to 79-57 in the first 5:23 of the period. Going into the fourth quarter, the Blazers were schooling the Kings and had built a 91-63 advantage.
NOTES: Sacramento sat C DeMarcus Cousins, F Rudy Gay and G Rajon Rondo, and its starting lineup consisted of Gs Darren Collison and Seth Curry, Fs Omri Casspi and Quincy Acy along with C Willie Cauley-Stein. ... Kings coach George Karl said he wants to give younger players more opportunities and responsibilities. "It's time to open that window," Karl said. ... Asked about facing the Kings without their best players, Portland coach Terry Stotts said: "It doesn't change anything as far as our approach. We need to come out and compete and find a way to win. It's 100 minutes that are going to go to someone else who's anxious to play. ... Portland was without C Chris Kaman (illness), who has played 105 minutes this season.