Welcome to the first part of the Portland Trail Blazers Weekly Preview. Due to time constraints today, I can only preview tonight’s game. I’ll take a look at the other two games on the Blazers’ schedule later this week. Apologies for the weird format this week
Now, on to tonight’s game!
Tuesday, Jan 26: vs. the Sacramento Kings, 7:00 PM, CSNNW
The Skinny: Normally, a team that as average as the Kings are wouldn’t get All-Star consideration for their best player. It’s much more en vogue for the coaches to vote in guys who’re parts of winning teams; coaches are paid mostly to win games, so it’s only natural for them to reward winning, even if the Kings are eighth in the West right now.
This year, though, expect them to make an exception for Kings center/forward/obliterator of defenders DeMarcus Cousins.
The big man is a tenth of a point behind James Harden in the league leaders in scoring, at 27.6. That’s good for third in the league (might as well come out and say it. Those two are fighting for the non-Stephen Curry scoring title, since the Golden State Warriors guard is in his own class).
He’s also fourth in the league in rebounding at 11.4 a game, he shoots solid 46/34/73 splits after expanding his game to the three point line, is tied for fifth among centers in assists (with our very own Mason Plumlee, go figure), is seventh in the league in PER at 24.9 (ten points above average, which is spectacular), and leads the league in usage rate, which is typical Cousins.
He uses the highest percentage of his team’s possessions in the NBA, which means that 35.7% of Kings possessions when he’s on the floor end with a Cousins shot or turnover. And since he’s tied for 10th in the NBA with 130 turnovers (tied with Damian Lillard), Cousins has been doing a large amount of baking to go with his shot-taking.
One can understand Cousins taking the game into his own hands: he’s the star, he’s played on bad NBA teams his whole career, and with the weakness of the Western Conference allowing the Kings a chance to break their playoff drought, he’s naturally going to want as big a hand in deciding each pivotal game as possible.
Putting more trust in his running buddies Rudy Gay and Rajon Rondo would be the best way for him to go in the long run. Cousins could wear down during the playoff chase; he hasn’t played significant games in March since he was at Kentucky.
Rondo, in particular, has surprised this season. After getting disinterested in Boston with the Celtics and clashing spectacularly with Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle last year, Rondo has rehabilitated his career in Sacramento. He leads the league in assists, and it isn’t close. At 11.8 assists per game, he’s got that title in the bag halfway into the season.
Gay is the perimeter counterbalance to Cousins, averaging 18 points and seven rebounds a game with a very solid 47% FG%. Gay only shoots 33% from three, which is a problem on a Kings team with a non-shooter in Rondo and a couple bigs still getting their bearings from the promised land.
Still, it’s not like any eight-seed is going to be a serious threat to the Warriors. It’ll be awesome just for Sacramento to make the postseason, and send off the old Arco Arena in style.
Player To Watch: Mason Plumlee. He’s been getting eviscerated for his defense on Blazer-related forums this year, which I don’t think is really fair. ALL the Blazers have sucked on defense this season, and what separates them from each other is the varying degrees of suckitude they each apply to their defense.
I won’t deny, though, that Plumlee’s whiffs and bad positioning on defense have pissed me off quite a bit. He’s going to get another lesson at the hands of Cousins, so let’s hope he does enough in other areas of the game to justify the time he spends out there.
Prediction: Portland is just one game behind the Kings for eighth in the West, so expect this one to be hard-fought and entertaining, at least for those of you either patient enough to deal with Comcast or willing to watch games in bars, muttering to themselves. Wait, why are you looking at me like that? I never watch games in bars and mutter to myself!
Anyway, I’ll pick the Blazers to win this game and pull themselves into a tie with Sacramento for the right to serve as Golden State’s first sacrifice in April.
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