NBA Game Preview - Portland at Sacramento

Mon Jan 14, 2019 10:00 PM EST

The Sacramento Kings have spent a few years amassing young talent for the future. The way they've been playing lately the future may be now.

Sacramento has been perennial playoff also-rans the last decade, but the collection of 20-something players has given the franchise hope that better days are here. The Kings (22-21) are on the cusp of the competitive Western Conference playoff race, and they have a chance to improve their standing when they host the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night.

The Blazers (26-18) are coming off a 116-113 loss at Denver on Sunday night that ended their four-game winning streak. It was the start of five of the next seven games on the road. After playing at Sacramento, they return to Portland for two games before hitting the road again.

Although it's only halfway through the season, it's not too early to start thinking about how these games will impact things in April. But to get there Portland has to focus on the opponents right now.

"We've just got to take this brand of basketball that we've been playing the last few games and take it onto their court and go get us another win," Damian Lillard told Oregonlive.com. "It's more about us. It's more about what we've been doing, our own habits and our own focus. I think as long as we have that same mentality that we've had, and our focus is the same, we'll get similar results."

The Kings have won three straight at home and are coming off a 104-97 win over Charlotte on Saturday night. They have won three of their last four and have gotten contributions from several players. Saturday it was Bogdan Bogdanovic with 22 points and De'Aaron Fox with 21. The game before it was Buddy Hield and Harry Giles leading the way.

Giles has earned a bigger role off the bench since the start of the month. After not getting into the game nine times in December, he is averaging 16.9 minutes in seven games in January. He had a career-high 14 points in a win over Detroit on Thursday.

Giles, 20, is feeling more comfortable with Sacramento.

"I feel like I'm just at a point where I can be free and have some fun out there," Giles told the Sacramento Bee. "... I feel like I'm just comfortable out there and that's what it's all about. I'm in it now. I'm playing and I'm just having fun, so I'm going to compete and do what I do."

As the minutes have increased, he has realized what he has to do to stay on the court.

"Be me," he said to The Sacramento Bee. "Just go out there and have some fun and compete. I think I'm doing that -- being me -- being a dog out there, and everything is going to fall into place, so I'm just going to keep doing what I do."

Giles' recent stretch started, fittingly, in an overtime loss to Portland on New Year's Day. The Kings couldn't stop Lillard (25 points) or center Jusuf Nurkic (24 points, 23 rebounds) and both will figure prominently Monday.

--Field Level Media