Portland Trail Blazers (38-19) at Sacramento Kings (20-36), 6 p.m. (ET)
(SportsNetwork.com) - The Portland Trail Blazers will shoot for three consecutive triumphs on Sunday when they travel to Sleep Train Arena to meet the Sacramento Kings.
The Blazers atoned nicely for a pair of back-to-back losses right after the All-Star break. Portland beat the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder to close the three-game homestand.
On Friday, the Trail Blazers came from behind to knock off the Thunder, 115-112.
Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge each poured in 29 points to lead the Blazers. Aldridge also grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds and Arron Afflalo added 18 points off the bench for the Blazers, who were coming off their win over the Spurs on Wednesday.
Nicolas Batum was fouled shooting a 3-pointer and made each of the ensuing free throws to start a a 15-4 run for a 106-103 Portland lead with 3:56 left in the game.
Russell Westbrook, who registered his third straight triple-double, then barreled through the lane for a three-point play moments later to tie the game.
The game was still tied with under a minute left when Aldridge split a pair of free throws to push Portland ahead 111-110. Westbrook missed a tough layup at the other end with 33.9 seconds left, but Lillard could not convert his runner as Anthony Morrow pulled in the miss.
Out of a timeout, Westbrook missed another shot from in close and Afflalo converted two free throws to make it a three-point game with 6.3 seconds left.
Wesley Matthews then committed a head-scratching foul on Westbrook, who was grabbed just inside halfcourt shooting a running 3. However, Westbrook front- rimmed the first shot and Lillard knocked down a pair from the line for Portland to account for the final margin.
"Obviously that was an important win for us, for the division and tie break and all that," said Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts. "But more importantly, it was an important win for how we managed to stick with it, come back, fight through some adversity. I didn't think we necessarily played our best but we found a way."
The Kings were short-handed in their 107-96 home loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Friday.
DeMarcus Cousins sat with a sprained left ankle and Darren Collison is out with an abdominal injury.
Ben McLemore led the Kings with 21 points, Ray McCallum added 20 and Rudy Gay had 16 in defeat.
"Offensively, we didn't complete plays," Kings coach George Karl said.
The Spurs never trailed in the second half but also never led by more than six until Tony Parker scooped in a layup for a 93-86 lead with under six minutes left.
After McCallum answered with a jumper, the Spurs scored the next seven points to pull away for good. Parker hit a mid-range jumper and Manu Ginobili drained a 3-pointer and two free throws for a 12-point lead that only got bigger from there.
Sacramento begins an eight-game eastern road trip, starting Tuesday in New York City against the Knicks.
The teams split two meetings this season with the host claiming victory. The Kings are 3-1 in their last four at home versus Portland.