Author: moepea

I like lilacs, mist and cold air.

0-12: Cal still winless after an encouraging 71-62 loss at Santa Clara

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By Morris Phillips

The Bears found more contributors, but the expanded mix didn’t add up to an elusive first win.

Cal returned to the hardwood after an eight-day break for final exams but couldn’t pass their test at Santa Clara, falling 71-62 to the Broncos.

Cal (0-12) is now the only winless team in 363-member Division I, and their 15-game losing streak dates back to February.

The Bears were competitive early but went quiet offensively in the five minutes before halftime, then finished the game without leading scorer Devin Askew, who suffered an ankle injury.

“We had a little drought at the end of the half that we didn’t recover from,” coach Mark Fox said.

The Bears trailed 34-25 at the break and by as many as 13 early in the second half before rallying to gain some competitiveness with the host Broncos.

Eight Bears scored in the first half, and a season-best nine scored in the game led by Joel Brown’s 13 points. Five Cal players made a 3-pointer, but ultimately Santa Clara’s 47 percent shooting from the floor was too much to overcome.

“Our defense has to get better. We’re just giving up percentages we can’t withstand,” Fox said.

Brandin Podziemski, the sophomore transfer from Illinois, led all scorers with 20 points. Santa Clara also got 17 from rim-running big man Parker Braun on 8 of 9 shooting and 13 from Keshawn Justice.

Afterwards, SCU coach Herb Sendek lauded Podziemski for his play at both ends, including taking charges that resulted in offensive fouls on Brown and Sam Alajiki in the game’s final minute as well as picking up his defensive intensity when teammate Jaden Bediako was limited to 13 minutes due to foul trouble. Bediako’s misfortune gave opportunities to reserves Camaron Tongue and Jacob Holt, and they delivered for the hosts as well.

“It’s so great to see a total team effort because that’s the nature of our sport,” Sendek said. “That’s the beauty of what we’re blessed to have an opportunity to do.”

Can Cal break through and win one with so much scrutiny and focus on their troubled, injury-marred season? Consider this: the Bears will likely be favored to win in their final non-conference game on Wednesday at Haas Pavilion against Texas-Arlington. After that, conference play will mean far more capable opponents with NCAA and NIT aspirations.

Over the weekend, UCLA, USC, and Arizona scored huge wins against ranked Southeastern Conference opponents in Kentucky, Auburn, and Tennessee. Utah, Arizona State, Colorado, and Washington have eye-opening, non-conference wins as well, and Oregon State is vastly improved and clearly ahead of the Bears at this point as well.

Whatever Cal gets in Pac-12 play will be hard-earned.

Defensive Breakdown: Cal offers little resistance in 82-58 home loss to Butler

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By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY, CA–At some point, being winless isn’t just about being outmanned and outgunned. Lack of effort is going to seep into the mix as well. That’s just how human nature works.

On Saturday, the Butler Bulldogs tested the 0-11 Bears inside, and the home team’s lack of resistance was obvious. Butler converted 25 of their 36 shots inside the arc and backed that dominance with 11 of 14 shooting from the foul line. The result was a wire-to-wire 82-58 win for the visitors that they at one point led by as many as 30 points.

“This is the first time I think that we weren’t able to saddle back up and play a style of defense that gave us a chance,” Coach Mark Fox said. “We just could never get a stop.”

“Our team, as offensively challenged as we are, has to be very good defensively, and tonight we were not.”

Cal’s only highlight was a 9-2 run that interrupted Butler’s fast start and pulled the Bears to within 24-20 with 8:11 remaining before halftime. But Cal couldn’t back it up, scoring just six more points and trailing 41-26 at the break.

Butler coach Thad Matta pointed out the dilemma Cal faces in regard to their less than talented roster. The Bears struggle to score, given their lack of depth and inability to make shots. But when their opponent shows up defensively, things can get ugly in a hurry.

“Our activity was really good off the ball, and then we closed down quick,” Matta said of the Bulldogs’ defense. “(Cal) is not a quote, unquote, great shooting team. But I felt we did a much better job of making them miss. They never got a lot of open looks against us, which is just our guys being active.”

Sam Alajiki was Cal’s only bench contributor with five points as Cal failed to take advantage of Butler’s unusually heavy reliance on their starters. No team other than Notre Dame gives heavier minutes to their starters than Butler, but they made it work against Cal as all five scored at least 12 points while playing at least 25 minutes.

“We wanted to try to move them and get the ball inside via pass or the drive,” Matta said. “I thought our guys really did a good job of that.”

Simas Lukosius and Jayden Taylor both had 16 points for Butler. Guard Chuck Harris had 14 points, four rebounds, and four assists.

Freshman Grant Newell had his best game for Cal with 17 points, three rebounds. Devin Askew returned after a one-game absence due to health and safety protocols and also put up 17 points, but Askew needed 20 shots, missing 13, to get to 17.

The Bears are now one of just two teams in Division I without win as Louisville also lost Saturday to fall to 0-9. The Bears get their next opportunity to capture an initial win a week from Sunday at Santa Clara.

Bears Fall To 0-10: Eastern Washington nips Cal 50-48 with tie-breaking basket in the final minute

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By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY, CA–The three points the Cal Bears were lacking on Wednesday night undoubtedly were nearby in street clothes.

The Bears received bad news before Wednesday’s contest against Eastern Washington when they announced that leading scorer Devin Askew and freshman ND Okafor would be unavailable due to health and safety protocols. For a team desperate to end a 12-game losing streak dating back to March, the news was devastating.

Then the Bears coughed up 17 turnovers and never led in a 50-48 loss to the Eagles of the Big Sky Conference, a team they had beaten in all three, previous meetings.

The Bears trailed 45-36 with 5:22 remaining only to rally and tie the contest at 48 with 33 seconds left on Joel Brown’s made free throw. But Tyreese Davis’ layup on EWU’s next possession gave the visitors their winning margin.

Steele Venters, Eastern Washington’s leading scorer, was held to just four points before fouling out, one game after he scored a career-best 33 in a win over North Dakota State on Saturday. With Venters struggling, Davis led EWU with 14 points, and Angelo Allegri added 11.

With Askew unavailable, the Bears were left thin in the backcourt as Brown started as the only true guard with walk-on Wrenn Robinson in reserve. Brown logged 34 of a possible 40 minutes but committed three of the 11 turnovers attributed to Cal’s starters.

In the final seconds, Kuany Kuany missed a three-pointer that would have given the Bears a lead. Sam Alajiki fouled EWU’s Casey Jones, but Jones missed the front end of a one-and-one. Brown’s desperation 3-point attempt then fell short at the final buzzer.

“I’m really proud of this win,” EWU coach David Riley said. “Our guys were focused and closed (Cal) out. It’s something we worked on after the NDSU game in end-of-game situations. For our guys to get better at what we practice is really encouraging.”

Lars Thiemann led Cal with 16 points, and Kuany added 10. The Bears missed 13 of their 15 attempts from distance and shot 39 percent from the floor.

The Bears, Central Connecticut State, and Louisville are the only teams left on the 363-team Division I landscape without a win. Cal gets its next opportunity for a win on Saturday at home against Butler.

Bull Market: Kings hit another two-decade milestone in 110-101 home win over Chicago

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By Morris Phillips

SACRAMENTO–Even if the games run ragged, the Kings are winning them.

Clearly times have changed… anyone remember December 2004 with Peja, C Webb, and Mike Bibby at Arco?

That was the last time the Kings had this encouraging a start to a season after 22 games. How long ago was that? Well, for one, Vlade Divac was already gone in 2004, and since he’s materialized (as Kings GM) and disappeared a second time. Doug Christie was present in 2004 but subsequently gone, then re-emerged as a member of the Kings TV broadcast team, and now a member of Mike Brown’s coaching staff.

That’s a lot of comings and goings, but the lengthiest playoff drought in North American sports can be like that.

Brown’s arrival, a healthy roster, and (slightly) better defense are keys to the home team’s emergence, but a genuine belief might be even bigger.

“They’re connected,” Brown said after Sunday’s 110-101 win over the road-weary Kings. “They’re trying to play for each other, and when you get that with a talented group and two All-Stars in Fox and Domas, and a lot of guys who can step up, including Sixth Man of the Year (hopeful) Malik Monk, you get some nice wins.”

At 13-9, the Kings have won three straight and 11 of 16, and those anxious moments that saw fans get those negative thoughts (again) during the recent three-game skid have subsided. Seeing the team win in person at Golden 1 certainly does more than seeing them struggle on the road while watching them on television. That’s for sure.

The Kings weren’t great on Sunday 24 hours after they wasted the Clippers in Los Angeles. They missed shots–30 of 43 from distance–and after building an 18-point, second quarter lead saw it evaporate in the third.

In part, the visitors, led by Zach LaVine’s 41 points, weren’t keen on returning to Chicago with a losing record on their road swing. But a sixth game in 12 days wasn’t going to put them in position to be at their best, especially when they’ve been far from that in dropping 10 of 14.

You know that team won’t go away,” Fox said. “They have some guys that can really go get it. They did that tonight, and we were just trying to throw different looks at them, but I think in the fourth quarter, we were able to get stops when we needed them.”

Seven Kings scored in double figures, but no one had more than Monk’s 20 off the bench. The balanced scoring fit the uneven performance in that if you don’t have a couple of standouts to help you cruise, it’s okay to find your way with a determined committee.

That and the first triple-double from Sabonis, who had 11 points, 17 rebounds, and 10 assists, the first time the Kings’ center has achieved that milestone since he was traded to Sacramento. And he did it when some other big body on another team might have rested in a back-to-back scenario.

“I don’t really believe in resting,” Sabonis said before the game. “What we’re paid for as professional athletes (is to) perform. But, yeah, the West is packed. If other teams want to rest players, it’s to our advantage to go out there and take that win.”

The Kings have two days off before they take on the Bucks in Milwaukee on Wednesday.

Meeting Them At The Top: Cal fearless and competitive in 81-68 loss at No. 4 Arizona

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By Morris Phillips

Marsalis Roberson, like a lot of his teammates, hasn’t had the impact on the Cal basketball program his coaches and fans had hoped for. In seven game appearances in this his sophomore season, all with double-digit minutes off the bench, Roberson had scored just 13 points.

But with Cal enjoying as much of a breakout performance as any in their season-opening streak of nine losses, the 6’6″ forward attempted a full-flight, soaring dunk on 7’0″ Oumar Ballo, Arizona’s ascendant center, a legitimate NBA prospect, and not a dude to back down from a challenge.

Just how did that go, Marsalis–with Cal trailing by 51-39 early in the second half and looking to make a move?

Not well, but the attitude was spot on. Right now, Cal needs as much of that as they can muster and then some. Mark Fox noticed, and on Sunday afternoon in the desert, the team’s embattled coach was encouraged by Roberson, and an 81-68 loss that was far less lopsided than anyone could have imagined.

“We made one less basket than Arizona made. They just murdered us at the foul line,” said Fox, eluding to a disparity of 18 free throw attempts between the two teams. “We’ve played really hard. We’ve had some challenges just trying to get enough healthy guys on the floor to build a cohesive team.”

The Bears are still without Jalen Celestine and DeJuan Clayton, absences that continue to leave the team’s bench thin in versatility and production. One minute before Roberson had his bold, dunk attempt thrown by Ballo, the Oakland native cut Cal’s deficit to 10 with a short jump shot. But that was the only two points Cal’s bench scored all afternoon–after they went scoreless in Wednesday’s home loss to USC.

That lack of bench production didn’t diminish the scoring of Lars Thiemann, Kuany Kuany and Devin Askew, who combined for 54 of Cal’s 68 points on better than 50 percent shooting. But again, Askew was spent after 35 minutes of battling taller Wildcats, who came in greater numbers. Consequently, the visitors didn’t finish well. After getting as close as 59-52 with 10:51 remaining, Cal never got closer.

“I thought we kept the game where we needed to until that little spurt,” Fox said of his squad’s lethargic finish.

Azoulas Tubelis led Arizona with 25 points. Ballo was just as impressive with 17 points, seven rebounds, and four blocks. The Wildcats’ perimeter game wasn’t as complimentary, missing 16 of 20 attempts from distance, which allowed Cal to hang around.

Arizona enjoyed an 8-2 run in the closing minutes before the half to lead 42-30, but Cal got a kind whistle, and three made free throws from Askew pulled Cal within 42-33 at the break.

“I knew (Cal was) going to come in here and fight,” Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said. “I knew it was going to be a grindy game.”

The Bears are 0-9 for the first time ever. Eastern Washington visits Haas Pavilion on Wednesday as Cal needs a win to avoid the worst start by a team in the Power 5 Era, dating back to 1975.

Rough Times, Dealing With Adversity: Cal remains winless after 66-51 loss to USC

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By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY, CA–Against the USC Trojans, the first pass was difficult, and the second pass nearly impossible.

Cal’s deliberate pace didn’t move the defense an inch but instead left the Trojans more rooted in the paint. Devin Askew, the Bears’ nearest thing to a catalyst, was then left to put up a bunch of difficult shots.

And that was the opening half, and Cal’s best 20 minutes of the evening, after which they trailed 27-22.

To recap, the hosts, buoyed by their most enthusiastic crowd of the season, totaled one assist, 28 missed shots, and one made three in the first half.

The Bears got as close as 46-43 in the second half, only to see the Trojans score 20 consecutive points to turn a close game into a rout.

The lengthy USC run to close the game exposed the Cal bench, which had four guys play a combined 35 minutes, but shoot 0 for 8 and go scoreless. The quartet of ND Okafor, Obinna Anyanwu, Marsalis Roberson, and Monty Bowser could be an area of growth going forward for Cal, but none have the experience or breadth to impose their will at this point. Sam Alijiki, Cal’s most impactful frontcourt reserve missed the game due to concussion protocols.

Askew once again led Cal in scoring with 23 points, but missed 14 of his 21 shot attempts and committed three turnovers as Cal never gave USC a reason to veer its attention in other directions.

“You have to finish… you get a chance to lay the ball off the backboard, you have to finish it.” coach Mark Fox said.

Lars Thiemann had 10 for Cal, but he too was harassed by a collapsing Trojan defense.

Reese Dixon-Waters led USC with 17, Drew Peterson and Joshua Morgan added 14 each.

The Bears are 0-8 for the first time ever with a visit to Arizona up next. Among Power 5 teams, Cal surprisingly has company: the Louisville Cardinals are 0-7, and no team in the Power 5 Era has started 0-10.

Fox, in his 18th year as head coach at the Division I level, cited the miraculous rise of Bill Snyder’s Kansas State football teams from his youthful days in Kansas. Fox said he told his team the K-State story the other day in an attempt to get them to tap into the mindset needed to turn around their daunting circumstances.

“This team’s going to have to earn their right to win, and that’s going to be difficult,” Fox said.

“He’s been the most positive on the whole team. He refuses to let us quit,” Kuany Kuany said of Fox. “I feel like we’re all picking up from that. He’s very consistent with his energy. We look at him and don’t want to quit because we’ll let our coach down.”

Bears lose Emerald Coast Classic consolation game to Clemson, 67-59; fall to 0-7 on the season

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By Morris Phillips

The parallels between the head coaching careers of Brad Brownell and Mark Fox are remarkable. The dissimilarities, well, they all come in Fox’s three plus seasons at Cal.

Both coaches have long track records as Division I head coaches, Brownell now in his 21st season, and Fox in his 18th. Brownell has made NCAA Tournament appearances at all three of his stops: UNC-Wilmington, Wright State and now Clemson. Brownell hasn’t had a lot of success winning NCAA Tournament games, winning two in 2018 and getting the Tigers to the Sweet 16. Brownell’s other five tournament appearances all resulted in Round of 64 losses.

Fox’s head coaching career began with immediate success at Nevada where he won the WAC regular season championship in each of his first, four years and punctuated that with noise-making NCAA Tournament upsets over Mike Montgomery’s Stanford team and Mark Few’s Gonzaga team. That success led Fox to Georgia where he posted winning records in six of his nine seasons in the SEC. The richest, athletic conference in the U.S. proved to be a tougher nut to crack for Fox as he posted just four winning, regular season conference records and never won the SEC regular season title or reached the SEC Tournament championship game.

Neither coach has been blessed with top line talent, in fact, the list of NBA players to play for either coach is uneventful headlined by Fox’s Nick Fazekas, Kirk Snyder, Luke Babbitt and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, along with Brownell’s Trevor Booker.

Oh, the final parallel? Parker Fox, Mark’s son just concluded a four-year run as a walk-on under Brownell at Clemson, where he participated in 22 games.

Given all that background, the playing field was hardly even on Saturday afternoon at the Emerald Coast Classic consolation game meeting between Fox’s Bears and Brownell’s Tigers.

Clemson never trailed in bottling up the Bears for a 67-59 win. The Tigers shot 53 percent from the field and rebounded from a narrow 74-71 loss to Iowa on Friday.

Cal’s efforts were poisoned by a miserable 3 for 20 shooting effort from distance that negated their stellar 18 of 20 effort from the free throw line. The Bears trailed 31-28 at the half and closed to within one after Joel Brown’s first made basket of the second half. But that triggered Clemson to 15-0 run that culminated with Brevin Galloway’s 3-pointer with 14:15 remaining.

The closest the Bears came after that was a 63-57 deficit with 28 seconds remaining, but the Tigers closed it out with a 4 for 4 performance from the line in the final seconds.

Sound familiar? Well, that’s because it is.

The Bears fell to 0-7 on the season with the loss, easily the most disappointing start to a season in the history of California basketball. Mark Fox has now coached 100 games at Cal and won just 35 of them, easily the least successful stretch of his 18 years as a Division I head coach.

The Bears host USC on Wednesday at Haas Pavilion in their Pac-12 conference opener, before they visit conference favorite Arizona on Sunday.

A Point A Minute Won’t Keep You In It: Plodding Bears lose in Florida to TCU, 59-48

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By Morris Phillips

If you’re 0-5, throw caution to the North Florida coast breeze and let it rip! What do you have to lose?

Well, if you’re the Cal Bears, it’s complicated.

Coach Mark Fox is without two experienced guards from a roster that lacks athleticism and quickness. Ballhandling and turnovers have been a major part of their winless start, as has defensive rebounding with smaller, quicker opponents extending possessions on the offensive glass.

Given all that, let it rip–given a Haas Pavilion type translation–really means dial it back. So take Fox at his word, when he says, “we created the style of game we wanted to create” after the Bears got up just 39 shot attempts and scored 48 points in a double-digit loss to TCU on Friday.

Know this: Fox has a real dilemma. His Bears are a work in progress, emphasis on “in progress” and the losses are mounting.

The quest for victory number one brought the Bears to Niceville, FL for Thanksgiving as part of the Emerald Coast Classic, a meeting of Power 5 teams looking to spread their wings. Being matched against the Horned Frogs, picked to finish fourth in the Big-12, undeniably the nation’s best conference this season, wasn’t ideal.

But TCU was without Damion Baugh, suspended through the remainder of November due to his decision to sign with an agent after last season in thinking that he was in the mix for the 2022 NBA draft. Not only that, Mike Miles Jr., the Frogs’ other high-scoring guard missed the previous two games with ankle and knee issues, which coincided with TCU’s one-point loss to Northwestern State.

No Baugh, no Miles? Cal might have hope.

Not the case.

Miles returned on Friday, scoring 23 points to led TCU to a 59-48 win. More concerning than Miles, who needed 22 shots to reach his point total, was Cal’s 19 turnovers and 14 offensive rebounds allowed, which Fox pointed to as the biggest factor in the loss.

Those two areas created a huge deficit for the Bears in possessions and shots taken. It also allowed TCU to cruise despite a horrible shooting night (19 for 39 from two, 3 for 17 from three, and 12 of 23 from the foul stripe).

The Bears kept pace early, trailing 17-16 after Joel Brown’s layup. But over the final 8:16 of the first half, Cal scored just five more points, placing an uphill climb in their way.

The Bears got consecutive 3-pointers from Kuany Kuany and Grant Newell to slice TCU’s biggest lead to eight at 46-38. But after a TCU timeout, Miles scored consecutive baskets to extend the lead to 12, and the Frogs weren’t threatened after that.

Newell, Monty Bowser and ND Okafor–Cal’s top three reserves–found the TCU defense especially limiting, likely due in part to the trio’s inexperience. They combined to miss eight of 11 shots in 51 minutes of floor time.

With Miles coming off the bench, TCU’s reserves outscored Cal’s 35-11.

“We got to get some more guys that can finish plays,” Fox admitted.

The Bears now face Clemson under daunting circumstances. After finishing their game near midnight, they’ll be back on the floor with the Tigers at 4:00 pm EST.

“We’re not absorbing the preparation quite like we want to right now anyway, so maybe a quick turnaround won’t impact us as much as it would if we were playing a little smarter,” Fox said.

UCLA, Thompson-Robinson Run Cal Ragged: Bears lose to the Bruins, 35-28 in the season finale

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By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY, CA– Turnovers, and a porous run defense spelled doom in Cal’s season finale against UCLA.

And in there, engaged to the end, trying to navigate the hosts through a portal to overcome a late deficit was Joe Starkey, on his final call as the voice of Golden Bears football.

All for naught, and on this rare Friday afternoon of football, not a bonanza.

The Bears embraced their opportunity to soften a rough season with consecutive wins at its conclusion but couldn’t seal the deal. Cal led 21-10 before halftime and regained a 28-27 lead with 11:16 remaining. But UCLA’s 352 yards rushing on a relentless 64 attempts simply wore Cal down.

“It was a heartbreaking loss. We had plenty of opportunities,” coach Justin Wilcox said.

After both aforementioned leads, UCLA simply looked to senior quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson along with their run game to get back into the game and got quick results.

With just 58 seconds to work with before halftime, Thompson-Robinson led the Bruins on a five-play touchdown drive to get within 21-17. The fifth-year senior handled the final 19 yards on an aborted pass play that ended with him motoring to the end zone.

Trailing by one in the fourth quarter, the Bruins needed ten plays to take the lead for good, with half of the plays either a Thompson-Robinson run or completed pass. The ensuing two-point conversion–a Thompson-Robinson pass to Jake Bobo–gave the Bruins a 35-28 lead with 7:53 remaining.

“We were a little frustrated, a little teed off. We’re a lot better football team than that,” Thompson-Robinson said of the two deficits the visitors faced. “But again, the resiliency and ability to fix those things. We’ve got a bunch of smart football players out on that field.”

The Bears saw success throwing on the Bruins along the boundaries to their productive receivers, Jeremiah Hunter and J. Michael Sturdivant. Hunter had a big afternoon with eight catches, 153 yards, and two scores. Conversely, Cal couldn’t sustain its success passing with a subpar 3 of 10 on third down conversions.

“We knew it was a game of third downs, then taking some shots,” Wilcox said in commending his interim play calling team that directed the offense to a 361-yard output.

The Bruins dwarfed that with their 541-yard total and a significant edge in time of possession. If nothing else, that differential paved the way for a very, tired final seven minutes for the Bears in which they failed to threaten UCLA’s lead. When Cal regained possession with two minutes left, they ran just four plays and saw freshman Jaydn Ott fumble after gaining enough yardage for a first down.

The Bruins recovered and ran out the clock, forcing the Bears to exhaust their remaining two timeouts.

Cal finished 4-8 with just two Pac-12 victories in nine opportunities. That means changes are inevitable beyond those made during the season as Wilcox tried everything to pump up his lackluster offense without success.

“You’ve got to look at the positives,” senior safety Daniel Scott said. “We played a lot of close games. It’s just the small details that cost us some games.”

Jack Plummer’s decision to return or not will likely be the first of numerous ones that will hopefully result in the program getting back on track. If Plummer does return, he’ll be challenged by sophomore quarterback Kai Millner.

Starkey concluded a stellar, 48-year run as the radio voice of Cal football that began in 1975. For years, Starkey assumed the arduous task of broadcasting Cal and 49ers football each weekend, which finally took its toll. Still, the versatile broadcaster kept both teams going, as he was at the mike for all five 49ers’ Super Bowl victories.

“Very emotional. I’ve been there for a very long time,” Starkey, 81, said after leaving the microphone for the last time. “We’ve gone to some wonderful places. I’ve done college games, for God’s sake, for Cal in Tokyo and Australia. What a way to spend a life.”

Living Up To The Hype: Kings slighty different than advertised in 113-109 win over the Grizzlies

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By Morris Phillips

All of a sudden the Sacramento Kings are so good, they…

Don’t need to depend on their prolific scoring to win games. In Tuesday’ 113-109 thriller at the Grindhouse in Memphis, they put up a “mere” 113 points, the lowest point total in any of their ten victories this season. And yes, the defense was present. The formidable Grizzlies were held to 17 points in the decisive, third quarter in which they missed seven of eight 3-point attempts.

“I thought our third quarter defense was really good,” coach Mike Brown said. “Might be our best defensive quarter of the year.”

Don’t need to shoot the lights in order to win. The Kings have made slightly more than half of their shot attempts on the season, but against Memphis they made do with 43 percent shooting, and survived their whopping 30 misses from distance.

Don’t need to command the stat sheet to prevail. The Kings were outrebounded, fouled more and didn’t commit fewer turnovers, but they still pulled it out. To be fair, the numbers between the teams were extremely close in all three areas, but the contention that the Kings don’t have to unveil their best effort to win holds weight.

Don’t need a big finish to get a win… and this one on the road against a quality opponent to boot. This time the Grizzlies, not the Kings, dominated play down the stretch, cutting a 14-point, fourth quarter deficit to three on several possessions inside two minutes remaining. Ja Morant, who led all scorers with 34, missed a 3-pointer with 1:10 left that would have brought the hosts even at 104. Morant’s three-point play with five seconds remaining pulled the Grizzlies within 109-108, but the Kings converted four, subsequent free throws to close it out.

De’Aaron Fox led the Kings with 32 points, but Brown pointed to Harrison Barnes and his 26 points as the key to the Kings’ surviving the frantic finish.

“Obviously, we were haywire out there. Going crazy, and Harrison just made some big plays down the stretch,” Brown said.

The Kings have won seven straight for the first time since they did it in 2005, the season of their most recent–but distant–playoff appearance. Kings’ fans with anxiety issues might not want to look at the Western Conference because their long forlorn team occupies the third spot behind the Suns and the equally, surprising Jazz, just percentage points above the fourth-place Clippers.

The Kings were their typical, freewheeling selves in the first half on Tuesday, shooting 51 percent with eight makes from distance to lead 64-59. The third quarter saw the Kings extend their lead to 12, and they led 99-85 with 6:08 left after Barnes hit a three.

Memphis responded with a 5-0 run which set the stage for the tense finish. Morant was terrific after missing the previous game with an ankle injury, scoring 20 of his 34 in the fourth.

The Kings complete a back-to-back on Wednesday in Atlanta where they will confront the 10-7 Hawks.