by Charlie O. Mallonee

The Sacramento Kings lost to the Memphis Grizzlies 97-85 on Sunday. The Grizzlies came into the game with the best record in the league at 14-2. The Kings started the game with record of 9-7 but had to play Memphis without their star center DeMarcus Cousins who was scratched due to a virus.

It was a tale of two halves for the Kings against Memphis on Sunday in Sacramento. In the first half, Sacramento turned the ball over 13 times and those mistakes were good for 18 Grizzlies’ points. Couple the turnovers with a lack of defense that allowed Memphis to shoot 56.5-percent from the field and it was no wonder the Grizzlies lead the Kings 58-42 at the half.

The Kings started the second half with a Ben McLemore nine foot jumper and it felt like a different team was on the floor for Sacramento. Then at the 10:51 mark of the third quarter, center Ryan Hollins was called for a personal foul and picked up his second technical foul of the game that came with an automatic ejection. With the Kings already without Cousins, it felt as if the team had been dealt a death-blow.

The Kings did not give into despair. Instead, they stepped up their game behind the inspired play of Reggie Evans and reduced their turnovers to just four to crawl back into the game trailing the Grizzlies 74-65 at the end of the third. Twice in the quarter the Kings cut the Memphis lead to just seven points. Sacramento shot just 36.8-percent in the quarter but they held the Grizzlies to just 33.3-percent from the field. The Kings outscored the Memphis 23-16 in the quarter.

The Kings cut the Memphis lead to just three points off a Carl Landry jump hook off a rebound with 9:12 to go in the game. The Grizzlies upped their lead to six points and the Kings cut it back to three points off a McLemore one footer with an assist from Landry. From that point, the Kings suffered from poor shooting and  four additional turnovers as Memphis upped its lead for an eventual 12 point victory.

After the game, Kings Head Coach Michael Malone said,”The play of Mike Conley and Tony Allen took the Kings out of their offense early in the game. Turnovers kept coming from over-dribbling. I’m happy we got back into the game.” It was obvious that he was unhappy his team had lost the game.

As a team, the Kings shot 47.1-percent from the field but they allowed Memphis to shoot 48.1-percent. The Kings shot just 09.1-percent (1 for 11) from beyond the 3-Point line. Some well timed 3-Point baskets would have helped the Kings in the second half. The Kings shot just 66.7-percent (18-27) from the free throw line. You cannot miss free throws when your team is trying to come back from a 16 point deficit.

Rudy Gay lead the Kings with 20 points. Reggie Evans scored 17 points and hauled in 20 rebounds in his role off the bench. Ben McLemore posted 18 points while Darren Collison added 16. Omri Casspi and Carl Landry had six points each.

Memphis was lead in scoring by forward Zach Randolph who scored 15 of his 22 points in the first half to go with 12 rebounds. Marc Gasol added 18 while Tony Allen had 13 points. The Memphis starting five all scored in double figures.

Michael Malone said he told his team, “… walk out of here understanding that we have a lot of work to do, but being 9-8 and having played the toughest schedule and the most road games in the NBA – we have a lot things to feel good about. We’ve only played one game against the Eastern Conference. That’s not trying to give them a false sense of security or accomplishment, but they’re 9-8 against the schedule that we played, which shows that they do deserve some credit.”

The Kings return to action on Tuesday night when they host the Toronto Raptors.