Portland visits Sacramento on Tuesday and has promised fire.
Wesley Matthews, Blazers gunner, on Sunday speaking to the Portland Tribune, via @polonius916:
"We're going to burn the nets down in Sacramento."
It's certainly possible: the Blazers are excellent, with an offense among the league's best. The Kings defense gave up 113 points to the Bobcats. The Blazers have several shooters who can hit even well-defending threes. The Kings defense gave up 113 points to the Bobcats. You know in NBA Jam, where three straight makes leads the nets to burn? Is there any question Portland can make three straight shots against the Kings?
But the weird thing about this Kings team is not just that they play better against good teams. It's that they play best when challenged. And they haven't been this challenged since the Mavericks game in Sacramento, in which they were shorthanded due to the trade. The Kings killed the Mavericks that night.
The Kings' losses to the Sixers and Bobcats were brutal. The players held a meeting on Monday, and reportedly had a strong practice Sunday. Wes Matthews is out here dropping bulletin board material against a 10-22 team that just got pounded by Philly and just gave up 113 to Charlotte. Why would you challenge this awful team? Wes probably wasn't thinking about Sacramento when he said the nets would burn. He was thinking about motivating himself and his team after a tough loss of their own ... to the Sixers.
I assume DeMarcus Cousins, Isaiah Thomas and Rudy Gay have seen Matthews' quotes. I assume they'll have something to say about them on the court.
PRE-GAME HAIKU
"Burn the nets!" he said.
Go 'head. We'll buy more. We could
not say that last year.
Game's at 7 on Comcast SportsNet.
