The Trail Blazers beat the Sacramento Kings 112-97 on Tuesday and a key element in the win was limiting Kings' center DeMarcus Cousins to 17 points on 4-of-20 shooting.

"I could tell what their scheme was: to try to frustrate me," Cousins said. "Meyers whatever you say it -- yeah, Leonard -- took advantage of the situation a little bit more. If you want to credit them, go ahead. A lot of shots didn't fall."

The Blazers sent a wave of big men at Cousins as Leonard, Mason Plumlee and Ed Davis all took turns checking Sacramento's versatile big man. Leonard, in particular, had success slowing Cousins, who was averaging 52.5 points and 12.5 rebounds in his previous two games.

"He was very good on Cousins," Blazers coach Terry Stotts said of Leonard's defensive effort. "He banged with him, he took the challenge."

However, Cousins wasn't quick to congratulate Leonard on his defensive game.

"I'm not giving him that much credit," Cousins said. "He's not even a defender."

In the Blazers locker room, Leonard deflected some of the praise, crediting the team's focus on slowing Cousins on offense.

"I give credit when it's due. He's a very good player, able to score in many ways - down on the block, on the perimeter, et cetera," Leonard said. "But I thought for the most part, I did a good job on him and the rest of the guys did a good job on him."

-- Mike Richman

mrichman@oregonian.com

@mikegrich