Portland 107, Sacramento 102

After the recent games against Atlanta and Houston, where the Blazers played like dog feces, it's always nice to see the Sacramento Kings next up on the schedule.  That said, even the Kings aren't always a guaranteed win for Portland.  But either way, suffice it to say that it's helpful.

Last night, it was pretty much a team effort.  Matthews was the leading scorer for the Blazers, with 21 points.  Perhaps more importantly, Wesley's 3 steals in the game may have proved more helpful, with 2 of those steals coming late in the game.  

LaMarcus Aldridge seemed to get on track a bit, with 20 points and 10 boards.  Camby helped out with 13 rebounds in his limited 21 minutes of playing time.  Andre Miller had 19 points and 6 assists and Batum added 17 points of his own and played good defense on just about everyone in the Kings' lineup.

There wasn't anything flashy about this win, but at least it was a win.  With a tough four game East coast road trip coming up that sees matchups against Miami, Orlando and Atlanta, you could say that Portland needed this game.  If Portland had somehow let this game slip away (they did only win by 5 points, after all), Blazers fans would be freaking out, to say the least.  We're good at freaking out.  Seems like we've had more than enough practice at it.

Mike Tokito of the Oregonian notes:  "There was plenty to nitpick, if you're so inclined, but really, the time for being picky about the how of wins is long gone, with just 21 games remaining. The win nudged the Blazers (34-27) back into sixth place in the Western Conference, just .001 ahead of New Orleans (35-28).

Portland should welcome any help it can get, and it got some Wednesday, with New Orleans, Houston and Phoenix -- all part of the logjam in the lower half of the West playoff race -- losing."

It's going to be real interesting to see exactly how high or low the Blazers will fall come playoff time.