Detroit overcame a great game by King, beating Portland 94-84. "It's a team sport," said losing coach Bob. "If we had another couple players like King out there, we'd have won this game easily. But we didn't, so we didn't." Bob has been under fire lately, and the lackluster performance by his players (save King) certainly doesn't improve his job security any.

The normally-quiet King was less than satisfied after the game. "I feel betrayed - like I did my best and my teammates didn't. I don't know if it was coach's fault for not getting the team up, or if the other players just all had an off day at the same time. But this was a close game, we had our chances, and we didn't execute when we needed."

Detroit was led by Degraff (25 points, 1 assists, 2 blocks), Day (15 points, 13 boards, 1 assists), Henderson (22 points, a steal, a block). Portland was led by King (8 points, 2 steals), Ortega (16 points, 6 boards, 1 assists, 3 steals, a block), Chapple (22 points, 3 blocks).

Detroit are now 19-7 and 11-1 at home with today's win. They improve to #1 in the Central and improve to #1 overall in the Eastern Conference. With this loss, Portland drop to 11-15. They stay at #4 in the Northwest and stay at #11 overall in the Western Conference.

box score Detroit* roster Portland roster