Trail Blazers at Kings
The Sacramento Kings are winners of five of their last seven games and seem to have found a formula that starts with Rajon Rondo and DeMarcus Cousins. The pair of stars will try to keep the Kings on the path toward a .500 record when they host the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday.
Sacramento won three straight at home before splitting a four-game road trip and is hoping the momentum generated from a 108-106 victory Wednesday can carry over the Christmas break. Cousins went for 25 points and 16 rebounds in the win over Indiana while Rondo narrowly missed a triple-double with 13 points, 16 assists and eight rebounds to mark the third time in the last seven contests that both stars recorded at least a double-double in the same contest. The Kings will be going up against a Trail Blazers squad that busted out of a slump in emphatic fashion with a 105-76 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday. Portland had dropped its previous five games by an average of 13.2 points and cruised despite star guard Damian Lillard (plantar fasciitis) missing his third straight game.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, CSN Northwest (Portland), CSN California (Sacramento)
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (12-20): Portland took advantage of a Cleveland team playing the second night of a back-to-back on the road by leaning on Allen Crabbe, who poured in a career-high 26 while starting in place of Lillard. Crabbe went 8-of-15 and is averaging 19 points in the three games Lillard has watched from the bench. The Trail Blazers led 34-12 after the first quarter and carried a 29-point edge into the break before cruising through the second half and did not need to push anyone past 34 minutes in the first night of the back-to-back.
ABOUT THE KINGS (12-17): Rondo and Cousins got plenty of help Wednesday from guard Darren Collison, who scored 24 points in 35 minutes off the bench. “It feels great,” Collison said. “When you have it rolling, you have it rolling. Your teammates feed off of you, and they continue to look for you, and (Wednesday) was my night.” Collison is back on the bench with Omri Casspi joining a bigger starting five but is averaging 13.6 points in 29 minutes.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Sacramento coach George Karl needs one more win to tie Phil Jackson (1,155) for fifth place on the all-time list.
2. Kings F Rudy Gay is 1-of-13 from 3-point range in the last three games.
3. Portland took two of three meetings last season, including a 110-99 victory at Sacramento on March 1.