--Portland -- which entered the game last in the NBA in fast-break points at fewer than eight a game -- outscored Sacramento 29-10, going for a season high in that department.
"In the first quarter, we gave up some easy baskets," coach Nate McMillan said. "Then we settled in, got sharper defensively, got stops and were able to get out in transition." --G Brandon Roy was 7-of-12 from the field and came within one free throw of equaling the franchise record for most makes without a miss in a game. The All-Star guard came within a point of scoring 30 points for the fourth straight game, last done by a Blazer (Clyde Drexler) in November 1991. Roy would surely have topped 30 points again had not coach Nate McMillan wisely chosen to sit him for the entire fourth quarter, with the game out of reach for the Kings.
McMillan was most impressed with a sequence late in the third quarter. After Roy lost the ball to Sacramento's Fernando Garcia, the Blazers' captain ran down Garcia from behind and swiped it back before he got to the basket.
"An unbelievable play," McMillan said. "To see that type of effort by a guy like Brandon, who plays a lot of minutes and has given a lot -- that is something you can build off of."
QUOTE TO NOTE: "When I made my first two free throws, I was kind of, 'OK, it's good.' I was able to get into a rhythm." -- Brandon Roy, who scored 29 points despite playing with a splint to protect a torn tendon in his right pinky finger.
