Blazers overtake Kings, grab No. 3 seed in West

Rookie Anfernee Simons scored a season-high 37 points to lift the Portland Trail Blazers to a come-from-behind, 136-131 victory over the visiting Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night. Skal Labissiere added 29 points and 15 rebounds for the Trail Blazers, who trailed by as many as 28 points in the first half.

Jake Layman, Meyers Leonard and Gary Trent Jr. scored 19 points apiece for Portland (53-29), which gained the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference and will face No. 6 Oklahoma City (49-33) in the first round of the playoffs. The Blazers finished tied with the Houston Rockets (53-29) but won the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Marvin Bagley III led Sacramento (39-43) with 20 points off the bench. With home-court advantage in the first round secured, Portland coach Terry Stotts rested his regulars and started the five least-used players on his roster -- forwards Labissiere and Layman, center Leonard and guards Simons and Trent. The only other player who saw duty for the Blazers was center/forward Zach Collins, who scored 13 points in 13 minutes.

Fox scored 17 points as Sacramento breezed to an 87-62 halftime lead. It was the most points a Portland team has ever yielded in a half. The Kings shot 66.7 percent from the field, making 13 of 20 (65 percent) from 3-point range. Simons had 23 points on 9-for-13 shooting for Portland before the break. However, Sacramento coach Dave Joerger did not play his starters in the second half, and Portland mounted a huge comeback.

The Blazers cut the deficit to 113-98 after three quarters and used a 24-4 run to take a 122-117 lead with 5:45 remaining. BJ Johnson scored for Sacramento, but Layman answered with a layup to make it 124-119 with 4:27 to play. Labissiere and Layman scored back-to-back baskets to increase the difference to 128-119 with 3:26 left. Caleb Swanigan hit a rainbow jumper and Frank Mason scored on a drive to get the Kings to within 128-123 with 2:20 remaining. Simons knocked down a corner trey to give Portland a 131-123 lead, but Mason answered with a 3-pointer to make it 131-126 with 1:55 left.

A Ferrell layup drew the Kings within 131-128 with 1:32 to go. Labissiere scored on a put-back dunk, but Mason converted a three-point play to cut it to 133-131 with 1:05 to play. Simons scored on a one-handed follow to give Portland a 135-131 advantage with 48.7 seconds to play. He split a pair at the line to make it 136-131 with 21.8 ticks left.

--Field Level Media

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)