Rudy Gay, Kings, stop the Trail Blazers in their tracks

The Portland Trail Blazers fell to the Sacramento Kings, 103-94, in their second game of the season tonight. Rudy Gay led the way for the Kings with 40 points, one point shy of his career high.

Recap

The game could have been anyone’s through the first three quarters, as they finished the second and third tied at 48-48 and 71-71 respectively. This was reflected in the almost equally poor field goal percentages of each team. The Trail Blazers shot 41.0 precent, while the Kings shot 42.0 percent. Free throws made the difference, the Kings sinking 31 to Portland’s 17.

This was not a fun one to watch. The Trail Blazers were slow to contest, slow to box out, and fortunate that the ramifications of each shortcoming were not as severe as they could have been. They held even despite lax defense until their shots stopped falling in the fourth quarter. A 13-0 run by Sacramento was enough to eventually force Portland to put them on the line to stop the clock.

Perhaps most concerning in all this is the ease with which Gay found Portland’s blind spots. So many of his shot attempts were uncontested because five Trail Blazer heads had to turn 180 degrees in the time he had to set his feet. The Trail Blazers were so focused on stopping DeMarcus Cousins in the paint (which they actually did rather well), that they lost track of Gay in the corners.

Players

LaMarcus Aldridge led the Trail Blazers with a pretty typical 22 points. He had a good night overall, but I would have liked to see him rebound more aggressively. The Kings dominated the offensive glass, in part because Aldridge was a bit loath in the scrum (4 rebounds).

Damian Lillard had trouble getting going early again, but made up for it late in the fourth quarter with a deluge of scoring. He ended the game with 20 points (8-9 from the line), but just two assists—not necessarily from lack of distribution. Again, nobody could connect.

Wesley Matthews scored well inside, showing more than shades of an improved post game, but struggled to score from deep. He shot an uncharacteristic 1-7 on three-pointers and finished the game with 16 points.

Chris Kaman contributed well off the bench, as we’ve come to expect. His 6-10 shooting with 6 rebounds and 2 blocks was a bright spot for the team. He and Aldridge paired well together in the brief moments that they shared the court.

Notes

In consecutive games to start the season, the Trail Blazers have allowed an opposing player to score more than 35 points. If that becomes more of a norm than an anomaly for this defense, Head Coach Terry Stotts needs to investigate the problem.

Aldridge shot three three-pointers in the game, two in the closing minutes. He narrowly missed the first two and sank the last one. For those of you keeping track, that puts him at 50.0 percent on the season—not that it means much with such a miniscule sample size.

Lillard did not look to drive until it was a necessity. Getting to the line could be his bread and butter if he forced the issue more often, but I understand how taxing 48 minutes of full throttle would be. Still, opening that option a little bit earlier on nights when his shot isn’t falling would be beneficial.

The Trail Blazers will head back home and review any malfunctions before facing the Golden State Warriors on Sunday, November 2^nd, at 6:00 p.m. PST.