It happened again on Friday night, when the team that had fallen to Memphis before downing the Hornets was routed 117-96 by Portland. Donte' Greene was a perfect example of the trend, as the rookie small forward was unable to muster a repeat performance in his second career start as he had in the first.

After scoring 15 points and hitting three of four three-pointers while starting against New Orleans because of an ankle injury to forward Mikki Moore, Greene had just eight points and missed all four of his threes against the Blazers.

Yet even the veterans pulled a Jekyll and Hyde performance. Point guard Bobby Jackson, whose fourth-quarter surge on both ends against New Orleans sparked the win, hit just 2-of-7 shots against Portland. Similarly, swingman John Salmons followed his 29-point outing at New Orleans with an eight-point effort on 4-of-12 shooting.

BLAZERS 117, KINGS 96: Kings co-owner Joe Maloof made a public request last week, imploring coach Reggie Theus and his team to improve defensively. The specific charge was to defend the three-point line, as they had been getting torched from the perimeter.

The boss likely went home unhappy on Friday night, as the Kings allowed Portland to hit 14 of 26 threes and shoot 55.6 percent from the field. Portland point guard Steve Blake hit 6-of-10 threes, while Travis Outlaw and Rudy Fernandez were a combined 7 of 10 from beyond the arc.