NBA roundup from Wild Wednesday - April 9th

Portland 100–99 Sacramento

The Kings sure showed some grit last night, battling the Blazers on the second night of a back-to-back while missing two of their three best players, but in the end the Blazers have more talent and infinitely more 3-point shooters, which proved valuable in the last 10 seconds. For the Blazers, let’s just say, they better hope Dwight isn’t 100% if they play the Rockets in the first round because they aren’t the world beaters of the first half anymore. There is no way they should have had to battle against this Kings team, losing double digit leads multiple times and needing a Dorell Wright 3 with 7.6 seconds left to pull out the victory. The Kings pulled the perfect “tank” job, battling and keeping the game close before ultimately losing in the end, otherwise known as the final piece to getting over the hump and being a good team.

This game showed why I have little faith in the Blazers for the playoffs, as they are largely a jumpshooting team that can fall in love with their best skill and allow teams to comeback from deficits. These guys can shoot the lights out at times, but so many times I look up and see stat lines like LaMarcus Aldridge finishing with 22 points on 20 shots. As the Blazers went through lulls in their offense throughout the game, they fell back on their default habits of launching jumpers, when rim attacks and free throws are the best way to curtail a surging team. However, if I praise the Grizz grit for coming out on top, I have to mention the same for the Blazers who didn’t blink once the Kings came back, but rather calmly executed Terry Stotts’ play out of the timeout with 14 seconds left to get the aforementioned 3 by Wright. This kind of trust and trial under fire will serve them well in the playoffs when they need a big play to stop an eventual onslaught by a Western Conference offense.

As for the Kings, they showed some mental fortitude that is sometimes lacking, playing a reasonably good game when they had no reason to. Ray McCallum bounced back from a couple of rough games, welcoming the lack of traps and athletes the Blazers could throw at him and played really well (8 assists, 0 turnovers, 43 minutes), controlling the game for the Kings and doing what was needed on most possessions. Despite missing the final shot at the buzzer, he rarely forced the action and seems to be forming some synergy with fellow rookie Ben McLemore, who had himself another solid game last night. Boogie had a strong statline per usual (30 points, 12 rebounds) and played some strong defense, but he took 29 shots and seemed to have a shock collar on whenever Robin Lopez was in. For back-to-back nights, he has shied away from attacking big, true defensive centers, instead relying on his jumper to beat them. It’s fine for Boog to shoot jumpers, but he has fallen in love with them the last two nights, and it’s not a good sign to see him see a 7-footer on him and immediately run away from the paint. I know it sucks big guy, but you just gotta live in the paint.