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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
PORTLAND, Ore. – The Sacramento Kings were lost without
Chris Webber, and the Portland Trail Blazers even admitted there
was a certain lack of drama without him.
|  | | Bonzi Wells, front, pushes past the Kings' Nick Anderson. |
Damon Stoudamire scored 20 points and Steve Smith had 17 as the
Trail Blazers took Rasheed Wallace's latest ejection in stride and
dominated Sacramento 105-81 Thursday night.
Without Webber, out at least four games with a sprained left
ankle, the Kings were ill-equipped for the tussle between the top
teams in the Western Conference.
"Quite naturally, I know they missed him. We don't miss him,"
Portland's Dale Davis said. "We were able to get the ball inside,
able to really go at them, and his presence was definitely missed
by them."
The Kings didn't have a chance from the start, missing 14 of
their first 19 shots and falling behind by 18 points in the first
quarter. Coach Rick Adelman tried to motivate his starters by
benching all of them 6 1/2 minutes in, but nothing worked.
"There's no excuses," Adelman said. "We don't have Chris.
There's nothing that's going to change that right now. These guys
got to go out and play. We didn't play the way we're capable of
playing. As a result, Portland had a pretty easy game."
The lead reached 28 late in the third quarter as Stoudamire, who
scored 11 in the period, had a jumper, a steal and a 3-pointer to
make it 81-53.
"I was able to get a couple steals and ignite us, and everybody
just followed the lead," Stoudamire said. "We were flowing. We
jumped on them fast, and we were able to sustain throughout."
Vlade Divac scored 19 to lead the Kings, who fell three games
behind the Blazers in the Pacific Division. Utah and San Antonio
are 2 1/2 back in the race for home-court advantage throughout the
Western Conference playoffs.
It was the Blazers' first win over the Kings this season.
Portland had won 11 straight in the series before losing the last
two.
"Obviously it was minimized somewhat by the fact that (Webber)
wasn't there, but we're going to face them again with him, I would
imagine, and it should be a barnburner," Portland's Greg Anthony
said.
Wallace was ejected by referee Ron Garretson for arguing an
offensive foul call with 8:02 left in the third. Wallace has a
league-high 29 technical fouls, and appears on his way toward
breaking his record of 38, set last season.
"It didn't hurt us at all," Davis said.
It was Wallace's second early exit in his last three games. He
served a two-game suspension for throwing a towel at a referee
against Phoenix on Feb. 1.
Webber is back in Sacramento, recovering from the injury he
suffered in the final second of regulation in Tuesday night's
overtime win at Utah.
Bonzi Wells added 13 points for Portland. Davis, who missed a
game after pulling a back muscle getting out of bed, had nine
rebounds. Wallace had 10 points and eight boards.
The Blazers, who made nine of their first 12 shots and jumped to
an 18-4 lead in Tuesday night's 109-88 win over Minnesota, got off
to a fast start again.
Stoudamire made a 3-pointer, then intercepted Jason Williams'
pass and turned it into a layup for a 16-4 lead. A putback by Wells
made it 22-6 just 6:23 into the game. The Blazers had made 10 of
their first 13 attempts, including all six jumpers from at least 14
feet.
Adelman then inserted a lineup that included seldom-seen Nick
Anderson and almost-never-seen rookie Jabari Smith.
"We talked about doing certain things, and we did none of
them," Adelman said. "Who was I gonna pick? So I just put five
new guys in, to see if we could just go out and do what we talked
about."
The group stumbled, but eventually held its own, making four of
its last six shots to end the period. When the starters returned,
Sacramento showed some brief life as Peja Stojakovic drove the
baseline for a layup to cut a 19-point lead down to 42-29.
Portland recovered quickly, thanks to Anthony's second and third
3-pointers of the quarter. An alley-oop slam by Wallace from Smith
put the Blazers ahead 54-33. Another dunk by Wallace on a long lob
from Detlef Schrempf made it 60-38.
Portland actually increased its lead after Wallace was tossed.
Two free throws by Doug Christie and a hook by Divac cut the lead
to 66-51, but Wells' dunk started an 8-0 run.
Game notes
Portland and San Antonio have the league's best home
records at 21-4. The Kings are 20-4. ... The Kings fell to 12-12 on
the road. ... Lawrence Funderburke, starting in place of Webber,
had four points on 2-for-8 shooting. ... Williams missed all three
of his shots and was held scoreless.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Sacramento Clubhouse
Portland Clubhouse
Psychologist: Wallace's problems will only get worse
Webber will miss four games with sprained left ankle
RECAPS
Indiana 82
Detroit 73
Miami 98
Toronto 91
Dallas 102
Cleveland 81
San Antonio 102
Washington 78
Portland 105
Sacramento 81
Boston 108
Seattle 88
Vancouver 99
Golden State 89
FROM
ATHLETESDIRECT
Mike Dunleavy Official Site
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