I don’t have many words to describe this loss. The Portland Trail Blazers played six players all game, with three players playing all 48 minutes. The Blazers were down by 25 at the half and 28 was the peak lead for the Kings. After the Kings benched their starters to open the second half, the Blazers marched right back into the game and inevitably took the lead in the fourth. They never gave back the lead and Sacramento failed to hit 40 wins. Sure, saying the game is meaningless is a fair point, but there was a big chance to hit 40 wins. Also losing a 28-point lead is inexcusable by any means. Maybe I do have many words.

Don’t let this awful loss take you away from an incredibly up and down season that ultimately led to 39 wins. The Kings are still a fun team with a big offseason approaching for the chance to get better. The goal of next season should be to hit 40 wins.

Sean Cunningham from ABC10 summed it very well.

The reality is that getting the 40th win of the season tonight wasn't prioritized very high, otherwise Dave Joerger wouldn't have kept the starters on the bench. Then again, they did build a 28-point lead, which should have been enough.

— Sean Cunningham (@SeanCunningham) April 11, 2019

Quarter-by-Quarter Recap

The first quarter did not start well for the Kings as they trailed 9-2 early with Skal Labissiere making the first two baskets for Portland. Buddy Hield knocked down his 600th three to pass Damian Lillard’s 599 threes made in three seasons. The Kings got going after that with Nemanja Bjelica leading the way with 10 points and Willie Cauley-Stein scoring eight and grabbing five rebounds. De’Aaron Fox recorded five assists and Marvin Bagley came off the bench and had seven points including a three pointer. Harrison Barnes added six points as well. Labissiere scored eight points to lead the Trail Blazers who trailed 39-30 at the end of one.

Forty-eight points. That’s how many points the Kings dropped in the second quarter en route to an 87-62 lead over the Trail Blazers. Once the Kings hit a 20 point lead at 65-45, both teams exchanged some baskets but the Kings couldn’t miss for a long time. As a team, the Kings shot 68% from the field on 32-48 shooting and went 13-20 from three, good for 65%. They were also 10-12 from the free throw line, good for 83%. Fox led the Kings with 17 points on 8-10 shooting with nine assists, Marvin Bagley had 16 points on 7-10 shooting with five rebounds and Bogdan Bogdanovic added 10 off the bench. Barnes and Bjelica had 10 points each as well, with Buddy Hield following closely at nine points all on three pointers. For the Blazers, 19-year-old guard Anfernee Simons led the way with 23 points on 9-13 shooting and 4-7 from three and Labissiere had 14 points on a nice 6-9 shooting. Zach Collins was their only player that came off the bench and he scored nine points on 4-4 shooting. It was a fantastic first half for the Kings.

The Kings came out with their backups to start the second half and it resulted in the Trail Blazers outscoring Sacramento 36-26 in the third. A lead that was once 28 points became 15 at the end of the quarter, as Portland scored five straight to make the game 113-98. Bagley had 20 points and eight rebounds, Yogi Ferrell had 15 points on a nice 6-9 shooting and 3-4 from deep and Bogdanovic also added 15 on 5-13 shooting and 3-8 from three. Simon led the Blazers with 25 points and Labissiere had a solid quarter to go up to 23 points and seven rebounds. His shot was looking so smooth.

The Blazers outscored the Kings 38-18 and win 136-131. The Kings couldn’t beat the zone and relied on three pointers to bail them out, but it didn’t work. Portland got all the mismatches they desired and converted almost every time and came out with a win.

Notable Players

Marvin Bagley led the Kings with 20 points and nine rebounds in 30 minutes.

De’Aaron Fox posted 17 points on 8-10 shooting with nine assists in the first half.

Yogi Ferrell scored 17 points off the bench with two assists and one rebound in 29 minutes. but playing the majority of second half took a toll on his shot that was falling earlier.

Bogdan Bogdanovic and Frank Mason each posted 15 points.

Anfernee Simons of Portland dropped career highs of 37 points, nine rebounds and six assists in all 48 minutes. He shot 13-21 overall and 7-11 from deep.

Skal Labissiere, former King, dropped 29 points, 15 rebounds, one assist, two steals and one block in 41 minutes. He shot 12-17 from the field and 2-2 from three. You read that right.

Notable Stats

The Kings were out-rebounded 44-35 and but had more assists at 25-19.

Portland finished the game 14-24 from three (58%) compared to the Kings 18-43 (42%). Portland also shot 58% overall (53-91).

Sacramento wasn’t too active on the fast break, outscoring the Blazers only 9-4.

Two 28-point leads blown by the Kings this season. The first one occurred at home against the Brooklyn Nets.

Final words for this season

This season had lots of ups and downs but it was definitely a fantastic first full season for me writing here. I’ve given 100% effort and more for the recaps here and for in-depth articles. I’m excited to produce more fun content over the off season with this incredible staff here at STR and thank you all for reading! Also just another thank you to Akis and Greg for having me join STR last January and continuing to have me do recaps. Let’s hope we have a good off season!