• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Balanced Blazers pull out win in Sacramento

Mar 3, 2011 - 7:59 AM Sacramento, CA (Sports Network) - LaMarcus Aldridge posted 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, as Portland used a balanced attack to down Sacramento, 107-102.

Wesley Matthews scored 21 points, Andre Miller had 19, and Nicolas Batum posted 17 for the Trail Blazers, who won their fifth straight road game and also snapped a two-game losing streak overall. Patty Mills chipped in 14 points while Gerald Wallace added 12.

Rookie forward DeMarcus Cousins had 28 points to match a career high and also pulled down 11 boards for the Kings, who have dropped 11 of the their last 14 contests. Marcus Thornton added 26 points while Beno Udrih donated 13 points and eight assists in the loss.

"We played a lot of good basketball...The difference came down to a few turnovers," Kings head coach Paul Westphal said.

Sacramento scored five of the first seven points of the fourth quarter to make it an 81-78 game,

But Portland held on to a slim lead until Jason Thompson put the Kings on top, 86-85, on a jumper with just under 6 1/2 minutes left.

The game continued to be back-and-forth, and it was knotted at 95 with three minutes to play. Batum then sank a three-pointer and Wallace had a thunderous dunk to put Portland up 100-95 with 2:30 remaining.

The score stayed that way until Aldridge nailed a long two-pointer with 51.3 seconds left, making it a seven-point game. Matthews' two free throws finished out the 9-0 run to put Portland in front for good.

"It was a great team effort," Wallace said. "We got stops when we needed to and made shots when we needed to."

The first quarter ended with some high-paced, end-to-end play, and Matthews' layup as time expired put the Blazers up 30-29.

Portland used a seven-point burst near the end of the second to go up by 10, but Thornton's driving layup concluded the first-half scoring to trim the Blazers' lead to 61-53 at the break.

The Kings got within three several times in the third quarter, but couldn't draw even, and Portland went into the final frame holding a 79-73 edge.

Game Notes

The game featured 14 lead changes and 10 ties...Sacramento is 8-23 at home while the Blazers are 14-17 on the road... Aldridge grabbed four offensive rebounds to eclipse 1,000 career offensive rebounds mark. He is just the seventh Trail Blazer to do so...Marcus Camby had 13 rebounds while netting just four points...Thompson and Jermaine Taylor both had 10 points in the loss.