After Kangz-ing themselves in the second half on Monday night against the team currently sitting in the third spot in the Western Conference, Sacramento dragged themselves to Portland for a scrap against the fifth seeded Trailblazers. It was just 18 days ago that Damian Lillard walked into the G1C and walked out with 50 points in only three quarters of play. The Kings, well, lost that game. Tonight against a well rested, healthy Portland squad, and on a second night of a back to back the Kings are going to have to go full Kangz too keep this one close to the end. If there’s one thing Sacramento knows after all these years, its that you

Never

Go

Full

Kangz.

Let’s talk Kings basketball!

When: Tuesday, February 27th; 7:00 pm PST

Where: Moda Center; Portland, Oregon

TV: NBCSCA

Radio: KHTK Sports 1140 AM

For Your Consideration

A Regular Sactown Smackdown: It’s no secret to anyone that CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard play Roshambo before games against Sacramento to determine who gets to flagellate the Kings, and tonight will be no different. One of those two gentlemen are going to slap Sacramento like they insulted their mother, and if they catch wind that your eyes aren’t firmly fixed and focused on one of the very best backcourts in the NBA today, they might come to your house and hang 30+ points on you too. February 9th’s game was a prime example of how dangerous these guys can be. The Kings pretty much locked McCollum in a box and threw away the key, frustrating him into 11 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds and 3 turnovers in 30 minutes of play. McCollum shot 38.5% in a game that was, up until Damian Lillards absolute explosion in the third quarter, a back and forth affair. One of the two most important players for the Blazers had a bad night and the Blazers won, but the point is, Damian Lillard is good enough that CJ McCollum could have died and had Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman check into the game to carry his corpse up and down in sunglasses and the Kings still would have been powerless to stop the onslaught.

The thing of it is, CJ is just as dangerous. In their 124-108 drubbing of the Bulls in late January, Damian Lillard finished the game with a 13-7-4 line in thirty minutes but took a back seat to the dwarf star that was McCollum; 50 points, on 18-25 shooting. Now’s the time I start playing Little Texas-What Might Have Been and remind you of the rumors that the Kings were primed to pick both of Lillard and McCollum guys until two Kansas products who refused to workout in Sacramento fell unexpectedly into the Kings laps; Thomas Robinson and Ben McLemore. Which is totally fine. Really. Totally. Fine. No, I’m not shaking, YOU’RE SHAKING.

Prediction: CJ throws rock, Damian throws paper. CJ rolls his eyes knowing he has to put on the show tonight. After scoring 45 in the first half, De’Aaron Fox sits with his team up 30 and by the fourth quarter, you’re watch House Hunters International. CJ ends the game with 12, Damian with 9 points.

Kings 130, Blazers: 101