Sacramento's opening week has gone the other way. The Kings got hammered 121-96 by the Clippers on the road, then came home and dropped a 128-120 game to Portland in which the Blazers scored 44 in the 3rd quarter. Deni Avdija scored 26 for Portland, and Morant, now a Blazer, was in that game too.
Clippers96-121Domantas Sabonis is about all that's working for Sacramento right now. Against Portland he put up a 27-point, 19-rebound, 10-assist triple-double on 10-of-13 shooting, and the Kings still lost by 8. A line like that from your big man shouldn't come with a loss. It points to everything around him: 2 straight opponents have scored 121 or more, and the defense has had a bad quarter in each game.
The injury report shows why Sabonis is carrying so much. Dylan Cardwell (calf) and Maxime Raynaud (knee) are both out for at least the first 5 or 6 games, so there's no real backup center behind him. Ben Simmons is out after surgery to repair a torn right Achilles. Every minute Sabonis sits, Sacramento is playing small, and a Memphis team built around a 7-foot-4 center would love to see that if Edey is cleared for real minutes.
So the question for Sunday is simple. Can the Kings defend for 48 minutes against a young team that has already closed out 1 game on the road, or does Sabonis put up another huge line in another loss? Memphis has won 2 straight playing loose with nothing to lose. Sacramento is 2 games in and already looking for answers.