Trail Blazers 100, Kings 99
Dorell Wright hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 7.9 seconds left as Portland survived a scare from visiting Sacramento.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 22 points and eight rebounds while Damian Lillard collected 19 points and 10 assists for the Trail Blazers, who pulled within 1 1/2 games of the Houston Rockets for the No. 4 spot in the Western Conference. Wesley Matthews also scored 19 points and Robin Lopez recorded 13 points and nine boards for Portland.
Demarcus Cousins led the way with 30 points and 12 rebounds for shorthanded Kings, who were missing Rudy Gay (back) and Isaiah Thomas (quad). Ray McCallum had 23 points and eight assists for Sacramento but missed a jumper at the buzzer.
The Kings began the fourth quarter with a 13-5 run to knot it at 84 on McCallum’s 3-pointer with 8:17 remaining. Cousins’ jumper with 1:31 left gave Sacramento its first lead at 97-95, and he hit a pair of free throws with 14 seconds left to restore the two-point advantage before Wright scored his only points of the night from the left corner.
Portland used a 21-6 run to open up a 52-37 lead in second quarter and went into the break up 10. The Kings pulled within 70-67 with four minutes left in the third before the Trail Blazers scored nine of the final 13 points to take an eight-point lead into the fourth.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Portland also moved two games ahead of the sixth-place Golden State Warriors. … Lillard committed five of the Trail Blazers’ 18 turnovers. … Cousins has recorded a double-double in six straight games and 14 of his last 16 to move past Chris Webber and into first place in Sacramento history for the most in a single season with 51.