The Portland Trail Blazers head to Sacramento tonight to take on the Kings in the second game of their home-and-home series. On paper, it looks like a normal regular season game between two sub-.500 teams, but after Thursday night’s dramatic 134-133 overtime win for the Blazers, it has all the makings of an intense, exciting battle.

The Blazers were fortunate to escape the first matchup with their 11th victory of the season. They’ll take wins any way they can get them, but this one wasn’t pretty. Joe Moore from Blazer’s Edge wrote a full post-game report if you’re looking for a comprehensive recap.

The short version of the story is that the Blazers blew an eighteen-point fourth quarter lead as Sacramento’s DeMar DeRozan buried a three-pointer from the corner with :08 remaining in regulation to tie the game and force overtime.

In the extra period, the Blazers regrouped and had a seemingly safe six-point lead with :33 to play. Given a second chance to finish off the Kings, they squandered the opportunity again. This time, DeRozan’s clutch mid-range jumper put the Kings ahead by one with :04 left. With no timeouts available, Deni Avdija raced the length of the court and heaved up a desperation floater that missed the mark. As the Kings rushed the floor to celebrate what they thought was an improbable win, officials whistled Russell Westbrook for a foul and awarded Avdija two free throws. He calmly sank with :01.5 seconds on the clock both to finally seal the game for the Blazers.

As our own Conor Bergin reported after the game, even Deni Avdija was surprised to get the call that produced the game-winning free throws.

Normally when a team wins a game like the Blazers did, avoiding an epic collapse, it’s best to breathe a sigh of relief, chalk it up as a lesson learned, and never speak of it again.

But that isn’t an option for the Blazers. Instead, they’ll turn right back around, board a flight to Sacramento, and face an angry Kings team that nearly snatched victory from the jaws of defeat on Thursday night, only to see it slip through their fingers on a controversial call.

Portland Trail Blazers (11-16) at Sacramento Kings (6-21) – Sat. Dec 20th – 7:00pm Pacific

How to watch via antenna or cable: See your options on the Rip City Television Network.

How to watch via streaming: BlazerVision in Oregon and Washington; League Pass everywhere else

How to listen: Rip City Radio 620AM

Trail Blazers Injuries: Scoot Henderson, Damian Lillard, Matisse Thybulle, Blake Wesley, Jrue Holiday, Javonte Cook (out), Jerami Grant (questionable).

Kings Injuries: Zach LaVine, Domantas Sabonis, Drew Eubanks (out), Doug McDermott (questionable).

Bad Blood. Thursday night’s matchup included a pair of flagrant fouls and several instances of players and coaches from both teams chirping at one another. And that all happened before the controversial finish.

For different reasons, both teams are disappointed in Thursday night’s ending. The Kings know they had an opportunity to steal the game late. Even if the NBA’s official Last Two Minute report says the foul call on Avdija was correct, the Kings don’t believe it.

The Blazers want redemption as well. They know they got away with one on Thursday. Can they learn from their near-collapse and stay focused for 48 minutes?

Expect both teams to come out with a little extra pep in their step.

An Unlikely Center Battle. This game features at least one future Hall-of-Famer in Westbrook, one of the NBA’s best mid-range operators in DeRozan, a potential first-time All-Star in Avdija, and a set of twins in Portland’s Kris Murray and Sacramento’s Keegan Murray. There are intriguing head-to-head matchups all over the court.

But perhaps the most interesting one is between a pair of young centers. Donovan Clingan had 19 points, eight rebounds, four assists, and a pair of blocks on Thursday night, but he made just 5-13 free throws and missed several critical ones down the stretch.

His counterpart, rookie Maxime Raynaud, tallied career-highs with 29 points and 11 rebounds. Raynaud’s performance wasn’t completely out of nowhere, though. With Domantas Sabonis sidelined by injury, Raynaud is taking advantage of his opportunity. Over the past eight games, the Stanford product is scoring 16.3 points and grabbing 7.5 rebounds in just over 28 minutes per contest.

Both Clingan and Raynaud should figure prominently in the rematch. On the season, the Kings allow more points in the paint than any team in the league and give up the second most second chance points. On the other end, they average the fewest three-point makes, instead emphasizing interior play from Raynaud and others to complement the mid-range artistry of DeRozan.

Shaedon Sharpe’s Response. Overlooked in Thursday’s late-game chaos was the performance of Shaedon Sharpe. The fourth-year guard made 8-9 shots, including 4-5 from behind the three-point arc, en route to 20 first half points.

That effort tracked with Sharpe’s recent stretch of play. In the past six games, he is scoring 24.5 points per game and shooting a scorching 55.8% (19-34) from three-point range.

After halftime, though, it was a different story. Sharpe made just 3-13 shots. In the final two minutes of regulation, he fouled Keon Ellis on a 3-point attempt, missed two free throws, and took a questionable mid-range shot with :39 remaining rather than use up additional time.

When the Kings eventually forced overtime, Coach Tiago Splitter put his trust in Kris Murray and Sidy Cissoko while Sharpe sat on the bench.

How will Sharpe respond on Saturday night?

AndScape’s Marc J. Spears wrote about the bad vibes in Sacramento in his profile of former Kings guard De’Aaron Fox, now with the San Antonio Spurs:

The Kings are struggling with the likes of Murray and veterans Domantas Sabonis, Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Russell Westbrook on their roster. Sources told Andscape that there is a disconnect between some veteran Kings players and Christie and his coaching staff.

Sacramento is expected to explore making trades of its veteran players, a source told Andscape. At home games, Kings fans have recently booed their team’s poor performances and chanted for owner Vivek Ranadive to sell the team. One fan was recently ejected from a game for heckling LaVine, a player the Kings acquired in the Fox deal.

Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee had more about Kings Coach Doug Christie’s decision to play Keon Ellis over Malik Monk in Thursday night’s game:

Ellis came off the bench to post 10 points, four rebounds, three assists and a career-high-tying six steals in 32 minutes against the Blazers. Monk didn’t play at all after averaging 13.0 points, 2.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 24.0 minutes per contest over the first 26 games.

Monk’s absence led to social media speculation that the Kings could be on the verge of a trade as general manager Scott Perry works to reshape an imbalanced roster. A source with knowledge of the situation told The Sacramento Bee the Kings do not have a trade in the works involving Monk at this time. The choice to sit Monk was described as a coaching decision.