The Sacramento Kings get a chance to avenge their most lopsided loss of the season when they host the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday night.
Santi Aldama and Jock Landale combined for 50 points when the Grizzlies, playing without Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr., thumped the road-weary Kings 137-96 on Nov. 20 in Memphis.
Sacramento rebounded quickly with impressive wins over the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves, but then the Kings reverted to their losing ways against the Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz in the past four days.
Meanwhile, Memphis was a hard-luck loser in the chase for an NBA Cup trip to the final eight despite capping off a 3-1 round robin with road wins over the New Orleans Pelicans and Los Angeles Clippers this week.
The Grizzlies finished second behind the Los Angeles Lakers in West Group B and were tied with the Suns for the conference’s lone wild-card spot, but they lost the tiebreaker via point differential. Phoenix finished with a plus-31 margin in West Group A while Memphis wound up at plus-14.
Jackson returned from a sprained right ankle to lead the way in the wins over the Pelicans and Clippers, going for a game-high 27 points against New Orleans before contributing a team-high 24 against the Clippers.
Morant remains out of the lineup with a strained right calf.
The Grizzlies have won four of their last five games, using powerful play from Zach Edey as a foundation.
The second-year center made his season debut Nov. 15 following offseason ankle surgery. In seven games, he has recorded double-digit points four times and double-digit rebounds four times, a feat even more impressive when noting he left Monday’s loss against Denver in the sixth minute due to a head injury.
He has played twice since, going for 21 points and 15 rebounds in Wednesday’s win over the Pelicans and corralling a season-high 19 rebounds in Friday’s 112-107 triumph over the Clippers.
It hasn’t taken long for Edey’s new teammates to recognize the type of impact he can have on an NBA game.
“Zach is a huge part of what we do, both offensively and defensively,” said Grizzlies rookie Cedric Coward. “Just his presence alone is so meaningful to the team. You guys understand, when he came back, how much better our team got defensively, on the rebounding end, even the offensive end. His rolls are gravitating guys inside, so we’re getting easier shots on the outside.”
In Sacramento, Edey will match up with a couple of unheralded big men attempting to fill the massive void left by Domantas Sabonis’ knee injury. Journeyman Drew Eubanks and rookie Maxime Raynaud combined for 21 points and eight rebounds — with Raynaud getting 19 of the points — in Friday’s 128-119 loss at Utah.
They combined to limit Edey to 16 points and four rebounds in the Nov. 20 meeting in Memphis, outscoring the former collegiate National Player of the Year 21-16 and outrebounding him 8-4. Though, to be fair, the Kings’ duo played 46 minutes while Edey played 25.
Raynaud, the No. 42 pick in the June draft, has been a pleasant surprise in a disappointing season for the Kings.
“There is a poise about Max that belies his age,” Sacramento coach Doug Christie said of the four-year collegian at Stanford. “He is a young player … (but) there is not a panic in him, and I really like that.”
