National Basketball Association
Portland 102, Sacramento 89
When: 10:00 PM ET, Wednesday, December 28, 2016
Where: Moda Center, Portland, Oregon
Officials: #46 Ben Taylor, #37 Eric Dalen, #10 Ron Garretson
Attendance: 19665

PORTLAND, Ore. -- The last time the Portland Trail Blazers faced DeMarcus Cousins, he scored 55 points in the Kings' 126-121 victory at Sacramento a week ago.

The Trail Blazers held the Kings' All-Star center to nearly half of that Wednesday night at Moda Center, a key to Portland's 102-89 win.

Cousins delivered 28 points, eight rebounds and six assists, but it wasn't enough as the Kings (14-18) saw their four-game winning streak end.

CJ McCollum scored 20 points and passed out seven assists as the Blazers (14-20) ended a six-game losing streak.

"It was good to get off the schneid," said coach Terry Stotts, whose team lost 10 of its previous 11 outings. "We played a pretty solid game, start to finish. Our defense was solid. We did a much better job with Cousins. Our alertness both on him and with our help (defense) was much better than the last time we played."

Mason Plumlee and Meyers Leonard shared defensive duty against Cousins, and they also combined for 28 points and 19 rebounds.

"It's always a challenge with DeMarcus, but our team played good defense against him," said Plumlee, who scored 12 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in 23 minutes. "It was never one-on-one. He saw multiple bodies. We had guys on the boxes and elbow. We only ran a double at him a couple of times, but seeing bodies between him and the basket was big."

Leonard seems to get under Cousins' skin a bit when the teams play. For sure, Leonard makes Cousins work for his points.

"I've been trying to focus on being prepared mentally and physically like I am when I go up against Cousins," said Leonard, who matched his season high with 16 points and grabbed five rebounds in 25 minutes. "There's more of a mental edge when it comes to trying to stop him.

"He's a very good player. We game-plan for him, send two people at him, and he still puts up 28. But collectively, we were very good defending him tonight."

Cousins near hit his 29.1-point average, but he made only 8 of 19 shots from the field.

"Meyers had a good game," Cousins said. "He came in and was aggressive. They had a good team effort against me defensively. They were really keying in on me. They clogged up the elbows. They fronted and had a guy behind me on the blocks. You could tell their game plan was to make everybody else have big games instead of myself."

Only two of Cousins' teammates -- reserve guard Garrett Temple (14 points) and forward Matt Barnes (13) -- scored in double figures. The Kings fired at only a 39.2 percent clip and were 9 of 28 (32.1 percent) on 3-point attempts.

"Our offense was stagnant at times," Sacramento coach Dave Joerger said. "We got a little anxious. We got some good looks we didn't knock down, but Portland played well. (The Blazers) did a good job of jamming up DeMarcus, putting a lot of guys in the paint and really attacking him."

Portland jumped to an 18-10 lead and took a 30-21 advantage into the second quarter. The Blazers increased the difference to 46-30 on a Leonard 3-pointer midway through the second period. It was 54-37 before the Kings scored five in a row to cut it to 54-42. Portland stoked the edge up to 60-44 at the break.

The Blazers upped the margin to 67-47 early in the third quarter before the Kings used a 10-2 rally to get within 69-57. Portland took a 75-63 lead into the fourth quarter.

Sacramento got it to 77-69 on a Cousins 3-pointer, and the Kings were still within 87-78 midway through the final period. But Moe Harkless sank a trey to make it 90-78 with 4:15 left, and on the play, Cousins was assessed a technical foul. McCollum sank the ensuing free throw.

The Kings closed within 98-89 with 1:42 remaining, but Plumlee's dunk with 49 seconds to go wrapped it up for the Blazers.

NOTES: Portland was without G Damian Lillard (ankle) for the second straight game. ... Sacramento F Rudy Gay, who returned for Monday's win over Philadelphia after missing the previous six games with a hip flexor strain, aggravated the injury and did not play against the Blazers. ... Portland won for the eighth time in the past nine meetings between the teams and the eighth straight time at Moda Center. ... Sacramento has three former UCLA players (G Darren Collison, G Arron Afflalo and F Matt Barnes) and three ex-Kentucky Wildcats (C DeMarcus Cousins, C Willie Cauley-Stein and F Skal Labissiere) on its roster. ... The 6-11 Cousins came in with the Kings' second-best percentage from 3-point range (38.3 percent) and the most made treys (54) on the team. He hit 3 of 6 long-range attempts Wednesday.
Top Game Performances
 
Sacramento   Portland
DeMarcus Cousins 28 Scoring C.J. McCollum 20
DeMarcus Cousins 6 Assists C.J. McCollum 7
Kosta Koufos 10 Rebounds Mason Plumlee 14
DeMarcus Cousins 9 Free Throws Made C.J. McCollum 6
DeMarcus Cousins 2 Steals Allen Crabbe 2
Matt Barnes 1 Blocks Allen Crabbe 1
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Sacramento 89 39.2 9-28 18-23 20 39 3 8 11
Portland 102 47.3 12-25 20-22 19 45 4 6 16
Upcoming Games
  • Portland will play their next game on the road against San Antonio. The Trail Blazers have a W/L % of .385 after a win and .429 after a loss.
  • Sacramento will play their next game at home against Memphis. The Kings have a W/L % of .357 after a win and .500 after a loss.