Kings at Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers have the opportunity to move closer to
landing a playoff berth when they host the Sacramento Kings on Monday.
Sixth-place Portland is 2 1/2 games ahead of the ninth-place Dallas
Mavericks in the Western Conference with eight games to play — and six
of those contests are at home.
The Trail Blazers are 23-12 at the Moda Center and have tough home games against Eastern Conference foes Boston and Miami looming. Portland also plays Sacramento on the road April 5 and the Kings could provide stiff competition based on the way they have looked in recent games. Sacramento routed Phoenix and Dallas by a combined 44 points in its last two games and rolled up 133 points in Sunday's 22-point win over the Mavericks. "Guys have just cleared their mind," Sacramento All-Star DeMarcus Cousins said after the victory. "We've decided it is what it is, and we're just playing basketball and having fun. We're playing the game we love."
TV: 10 p.m. ET, CSN California (Sacramento), CSN Northwest (Portland)
ABOUT THE KINGS (29-44): First-round draft pick Willie Cauley-Stein suddenly is emerging on offense and is averaging 23.5 points on 19-of-30 shooting in the two victories. The 7-footer scored a career-high 26 points against Phoenix and added 21 against Dallas after previously not reaching 20 all season long. "We're seeing what Willie can do. It's the end of the season and he's playing with a lot of confidence," point guard Rajon Rondo told reporters. "There's not too many restraints on him as there were when he first came in as a rookie. So now he's a little more relaxed and able to do things that we haven't seen him do all year."
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (38-36): Portland suffered a 25-point loss at Philadelphia earlier this season and needed a tiebreaking three-point play from C.J. McCollum with 7.6 seconds left to land Saturday's 108-105 home victory over the 76ers. McCollum scored 25 points for his fourth 20-point outing in six games and is averaging 22.3 points during the stretch. Star point guard Damian Lillard has struggled in the past two games, going 10-of-36 from the field while averaging 17 points.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Trail Blazers have won five straight home games and 11 of their last 13 against Kings.
2. Cousins (knee) might be held out Monday after averaging 24.5 points and 11.5 rebounds in the past two games.
3. Portland SF Al-Farouq Aminu matched his career best of 20 points in the win over the 76ers.