Well, that was a little too close for comfort, especially this late in the season. The Portland Trail Blazers, thanks to Dorell Wright hitting when it mattered, narrowly escaped the Sacramento Kings by beating them 100-99 on Wednesday night. The Trail Blazers improve to 51-28 on the season and the Kings, already lottery-bound, fall to 27-52.

In the past week and a half, Portland has been facing off against quite a few teams who have nothing to play for, the Lakers, Pelicans, Kings and, their next opponent, the Utah Jazz.  I do not think I need to remind fans that Portland has had issues with beating inferior teams in the past. Fortunately, it seems like that issue is slowly turning a corner. However, there are still games and, in particular, the Pelicans and Kings games that show that Portland can still get better in putting these teams away.

In the Pelicans game, for example, Portland outscored them 29-14 in the third quarter and had a comfortable eight-point lead going into the fourth quarter. However, due to cold shooting and maybe some defensive miscues, the Pelicans were making the game very interesting towards the end. The Pelicans scored seven straight points to bring the game within four with 1:14 remaining, plenty of time to finish off the comeback. Fortunately, the Blazers are getting better at making the crucial buckets and LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard held New Orleans at bay just long enough. However, with it being this late in the season, you hate to see teams like the Pelicans really challenge the Blazers, especially on Portland’s home court.

I bring all that up because the Kings game followed a similar and more dangerous pattern. Portland outplayed Sacramento in the first half outscoring them 56-46. Portland was fluid and the shots were falling. This was the first time since the Charlotte game here in Portland where there were a few possessions where Sacramento just looked lost on defense. Plenty of pick-and-rolls were seen and worked. Not only the standard Batum/Robin, but you saw a Damian/Robin pick-and-roll and so on.

Portland was also using a different tactic of double-teaming. They had Wesley Matthews leave his man to go help double and sometimes even triple team the Kings’ best player, DeMarcus Cousins, which caused some broken offensive possessions. Sacramento is still a young team and has trouble adapting on the fly. I will say, however, that Sacramento had plenty of opportunities to make Portland pay for double or triple-teaming Cousins as Cousins would find the open man for a three-pointer or an open jump-shot. The Kings just could not get them to fall at the right times.

However, in the second half, Sacramento came out and outplayed Portland. The Kings outscored them 53-44. DeMarcus Cousins and rookie Ray McCallum really did a number on Portland’s defense. To start the third quarter, Cousins made four of his first five shots, while McCallum was slashing and driving all throughout. Just to show you how dominant Cousins can be, especially against Portland, he has averaged 33.3 points and 11.5 rebounds against the Blazers this season. This game was no exception. Cousins, after going just 4-for-9 in the first half, finished with 30 points on 14-for-29 shooting and 12 rebounds. In the third quarter he went 7-for-10.

Even with all of that, however, the Blazers were only outscored by two in the third quarter and still looked in control. Then the Kings made their run. No offense to Will Barton, but his shift in the fourth quarter was not a good one as he took a couple of bad shots and turned the ball over which allowed the Kings to only have a one-point deficit. Will Barton has actually been playing a lot better and has been a lot more under control. In this game, he had a couple of impressive dunks in the first half, but this shift was not the best we have seen from him.

However, the Blazers locked down on defense somewhat and a back-and-forth battle ensued. With 5:30 remaining, Damian Lillard hit a three-pointer to put the Blazers back on top by five and it looked to be the turning point. However, Ray McCallum, who went 4-for-7 in the fourth including two made three-pointers, got it right back. The Kings were not going away. For fans, panic mode turned on when DeMarcus Cousins made a 17-foot jumper to put the Kings up by two with 1:31 remaining and giving them their first lead of the game. However, Cousins got the line with 0:14 remaining and swished both of them giving the Kings a two-point lead.

Now, to set the scene, Dorell Wright had been having a poor shooting night. Up to this point, he was 0-for-4, but was rebounding the ball well and playing defense. Fans, you remember that overtime game against Denver last season where Wilson Chandler did not hit a shot until he swished the dagger? The Blazers got to experience that. Lillard drove immediately to the basket once he got the ball up top and did one of his familiar passes from the baseline to the corner. The pass itself was low as Wright had to actually pick it up, but with Reggie Evans in the game, there was a severe mismatch. Wright drilled the game-winner in front of the Kings’ bench to give the Blazers a one-point lead and eventually the win.

Now this is a win and any win at this point is fantastic. However, with both the Pelicans and Kings games ending in a closer-than-it-should-have-been fashion, it brings up some concerns for the playoffs. At times Portland can get big leads and sustain them with no problem; however, there are these kinds of games that make fans really nervous. With Golden State lingering behind Portland still, a loss to the Kings would have been unacceptable. Portland had a 15-point lead at one point and looked to be taking the Kings and throwing them out of the building. You could say that Portland got relaxed and thought that this game was won, but you have to give credit to the Kings. They adapted well and made Portland pay. Another thing to keep in mind is that Sacramento was down two of their most potent scorers in Rudy Gay and Isaiah Thomas. I cannot honestly say if the Blazers would have won that game if one of those guys were active. You hope to see this problem not rear its head very often, especially for a team that wants to go deep into the playoffs in the coming years.

Portland was red hot from the field as they finished shooting 51%, while shooting 30% from three. The biggest and most damaging stat was the turnovers. Portland had a whopping 18 and the Kings scored 23 points off of those turnovers. It seems like Portland just has these games every other week or so where the ball just cannot stay in their hands. Damian Lillard had five, while Thomas Robinson and Nicolas Batum both had four.

Individually, Lillard and LA both had solid games. LA finished with 22 points on 9-for-20 shooting and 8 rebounds. LA was hot early as he went 3-for-5 in the first quarter.

Lillard finished with 19 points on 6-for-11 shooting, 3-for-7 from three, 5 rebounds and 10 assists. The only blemish is that he finished with a -17. Lillard was clutch in the fourth, however, as he went 2-for-4 from the field, both of them being three-pointers.

Interesting note, Mo Williams was inactive for the game as Terry Stotts had him rest to heal some nagging injuries for the playoffs. This allowed Earl Watson to step in and play 12 minutes. Although he did not score a single point, he registered a +14 and his defense was fantastic.

Only three games remain as the Blazers head on the road one last time to face the Utah Jazz for the final time this season. Portland has had its way against Utah this season beating them all three games thus far. However, with the problems that Portland has had with holding leads against sub-par teams, this will be an interesting test to see if Portland can step on the pedal and keep it there. Tip-off is on Friday at 6:00 p.m. PST. Stay tuned!