The Portland Trail Blazers have won just two of their past eight games but are aiming to ride the momentum of their last contest.
Portland withstood a full assault from Stephen Curry to beat the Golden State Warriors for the third straight time this season. Now they turn their focus to the visiting Sacramento Kings on Thursday night in the first game of a home-and-home set between the teams.
Curry had a season-best 12 3-pointers along with 48 points on Sunday night, but it was the Trail Blazers who recorded a 136-131 home victory that brightened the mood around the struggling squad.
“We needed (the victory),” Portland interim coach Tiago Splitter said. “Everyone is fighting and working every day to get better, to get guys back on the court, to get them playing better. And the players are doing extra work, extra recovery, extra shooting to get to this point. So this one, it’s sweet.”
Jerami Grant knocked down seven 3-pointers while scoring 35 points and Shaedon Sharpe also scored 35 points while going 12-of-18 from the field, including 5 of 7 from 3-point range as Portland made 20 of 39 (51.3%) from behind the arc.
Deni Avdija also had a standout outing with 26 points, eight assists and seven rebounds.
“They were blitzing, putting two guys on Deni sometimes,” Splitter said. “And our guys were smart, finding Jerami on the corner. That right corner is special for him. And also him trying to drive and draw fouls and score close to the basket.”
Portland is hoping point guard Jrue Holiday (right calf strain) will return before the end of the month. Holiday has missed the past 14 games and the Trail Blazers are just 4-10 without him.
The second game of the two-game set is Saturday night in Sacramento. Last season, the Kings won both their home games against Portland in the four-game season series. The Trail Blazers also won their two home games.
Sacramento has lost 20 of 26 games this season in what has been a largely disappointing campaign.
The Kings lost 117-103 to the host Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday for their third straight setback and seventh in the past eight games.
Sacramento lost guard Zach LaVine to a sprained left ankle against the Timberwolves, and he has been ruled out for the next three games. He will be re-evaluated next week.
LaVine leads the Kings with 20.2 points per game.
Sacramento has also been without big man Domantas Sabonis (knee) for the last 12 games. Kings coach Doug Christie expects an update on Sabonis’ status to come soon.
Keegan Murray (thumb) missed the first 15 games of this season, and the repeated injury issues have prevented the Kings from being at full strength.
“Ultimately, that’s where you want to be judged is when you have all your guys,” Christie said. “But listen, this is professional sports. There are no excuses. We have to figure it out and that’s what we’re going to do.”
With Sacramento off to such a poor start, Christie admitted that minutes will need to be recalculated so the Kings can develop some of their younger players.
“More than anything, we have to keep developing our young players,” Christie said. “We’ve got to find out about guys and develop them. That’s the biggest piece of this puzzle more than anything.”
–Field Level Media
