subject: Portland Trailblazers Tickets - Blazers Triumph Over Kings 95-88 [print this page] LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy scored 25 points apiece and the Portland Trail Blazers came from behind to beat the Sacramento Kings 95-88. Get Portland Trail Blazers tickets and see Aldridge drive to the hoop this basketball season. Aldridge, who grabbed nine rebounds, went into the contest with a sore right ankle and even left the game at one point in the first half.
The Trail Blazers were concerned when they saw Aldridge limping, especially as they already have a lengthy injured list. Starting forward Nicolas Batum was lost before the season began due to shoulder surgery, forward Travis Outlaw fractured his left foot in mid-November and forward Rudy Fernandez recently had a procedure on his back to alleviate leg pain. Let's not forget about center Greg Oden, who will miss the rest of the season because he broke his left kneecap during a game against Houston on Dec. 5.
Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan was even injured. The coach was in a cast after he had surgery due to a ruptured Achilles' tendon. He hurt his ankle when he stepped in to practice with his injury-depleted team on Dec. 4. The coach returned to the sideline after missing the team's recent road trip because of the injury. Assistant Dean Demopoulos stood in for the coach while he recovered from surgery. McMillan stated that his team cannot afford to make mistakes since they do not have depth and personnel. He said, "We've got to outhustle you, outwork you and keep believing in ourselves."
Rookie Tyreke Evens scored 19 points and Jason Thompson added 18 for the Kings, who have lost seven consecutive games on the road. Portland led by as many as nine points in the first quarter, but Sacramento rallied back and took a 36-33 lead. Ime Udoka's 3-pointer helped extend the Kings lead to 51-40 late in the first half. The Blazers crawled their way back into the game in the third quarter, tying it at 56 on Aldridge's dunk. Portland then went up 62-60 on Martell Webster's dunk. However, the Blazers' lead did not last long as the see-saw battle continued to go back and forth. Sacramento went up 69-66 on Thompson's jump shot before they added to the lead with Evans' layup and Omri Casspi's dunk.
The Kings took a 73-66 lead going into the fourth quarter, but the Trail Blazers cut the deficit to 78-76 on Jerryd Bayless' layup. Portland narrowed the score again to 81-79 on Roy's layup, and then tied the game with Aldridge's alley-oop layup. Aldridge would strike again, giving Portland an 86-85 lead with 3:02 remaining. He hit yet another layup and added a free throw to give the Trail Blazers an 89-85 cushion with 1:37 left of the game.
Sacramento coach Paul Westphal said he was extremely disappointed. The coach continued to say, "We did not play smart basketball in the fourth quarter. We didn't do anything we had been doing the first three quarters to get that lead."
