DeMarcus Cousins and the Sacramento Kings will travel to Memphis to play Marc Gasol and the Grizzlies Thursday night on November 13, 2014. The game between two of the top teams in the Western Conference will tip off at 8:05 PM at the FedExForum and can be viewed live online for free here.
The Kings (5-3) have been one of the early surprises in the young season after they started their campaign with the longest winning streak since 2007. Their hot start, however, was halted in the road this week with back-to-back losses. On Tuesday against the Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Center, the Kings cam pouring out of the gates and found themselves in a commanding 24 point lead entering the second quarter of the game. Sacramento, however, started getting careless with the ball committing turnover after turnover and softened on defense allowing the Mavs to shoot 52.6 percent in the second quarter and erase a 44-20 deficit.
"That's two games in a row where we haven't defended well at all after defending really well to start the year off," coach Mike Malone per Yahoo Sports Game Preview. "To allow them to shoot 48 percent is unacceptable. To have that many turnovers, 17 turnovers in the second half, is unacceptable."
The Grizzlies continue to breeze their way early in the season. With a suffocating defense that has limited opponents to 89.4 points per game while forcing them into an average of 18.0 turnovers, Memphis has positioned themselves on top of the Western Conference with a 7-1 standing. Despite the early success, however, coach David Joerger still sees plenty of issues with his team.
"Our goal is to be elite, and we have to practice and such, and we have to play every minute as such," Joerger said. "I don't think that we feel good that we played well, but we played well enough to win. The exciting part is that, hopefully, we will play better and put it all together ... there is a level of frustration, but then again, we are 7-1.
"To be elite, we're going to have to get better."
Memphis has won 14 of 16 overall matchups with the Kings and is the favorite in this matchup, laying -6.5 points here at home. The Total has been posted at Over/Under 190.5 Pro Cappers.
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