Rudy Gay scored 1 shy of of his career high, scoring 40 in the Kings first win of the season over the Blazers 103-94. The Kings got a huge game out of Gay and also took advantage of another slow start by the Blazers.
"I was waiting for a game like that from Rudy," Kings coach Michael Malone said. "To step up the way he did, getting to the foul line, was great."
DeMarcus Cousins and Darren Collison both added 17 points apiece in the win.
"It's amazing what happens when you don't beat yourself," Malone said. "Our ball movement and execution was much better."
Coach Malone was right, the Kings ball movement was much, much better tonight compared to opening night and preseason. Sacramento shot 42% from the field as well as 40% from three. Shooting 40% behind the arc is very valuable for them especially when you have 3-point specialists of Nik Stauskas and Ben McLemore, though neither took many threes tonight. It was the Rudy Gay show, clearly, as he shot 13-19 from the field and 11-13 from the costless throw line. Now, the Rudy Gay we know likely won't be shooting above 50 percent all year, but it's a very good sign that he shot an efficient 40 points, and not just from jacking up shots.
LaMarcus Aldridge led the Blazers in scoring with 22 points, 4 rebounds and Damian Lillard added 20 points and 7 rebounds. To put this game into perspective on how the Blazers didn't shoot great, they shot 16 more three pointers than the Kings and even 2 more two pointers. They were at 34 percent from three. The Blazers are known to beat you with the three-ball and they just didn't have it tonight.
Although the Kings may not get much credit for this win, it's still big for them as it was their first of the season and some promise towards how the system is working. Holding a high-powered Blazers offense to 94 points should be noted. The Kings will move on to play on the road against the Clippers on Sunday and the Blazers go on to play the Warriors at home on Sunday.