A Royal Pain
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Kings Crumble Late Again In Loss to the Grizzlies

By Kareem Gantt

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It wasn’t even supposed to come down to this. The Kings had a seemingly insurmountable lead, only to crumble late once again in a 110-111 loss to the Grizzlies.

It was like watching a slow moving horror show. For the second straight game, the Kings appeared to have things under control, as Sacramento got off to another great start, and built a 38-15 lead after the end of the first quarter behind strong play from Rudy Gay (25 points, 7 rebounds) and DeMarcus Cousins (22 points, 12 rebounds, six turnover).

The Kings refused to relinquish their lead, and it looked like the Kings would pull off a stunning upset over the league’s best defensive team on their home floor. But then came the fourth quarter, and it was like Groundhog Day for the Kings.

The Kings all of a sudden forgot how to play both offense and defense, and as the Kings were crumbling, the Grizzlies were growing stronger. Astonishing, the Kings lead by one with .03 seconds left when the Grizzlies took a page out if the old Orlando Magic playbook and tried to lob the ball to the basket, hoping and praying a Memphis player would answer the prayer and lay the ball in the basket.

Apparently, God answers prayers for Memphis, and the devil continues to steer the Kings into a pit of late-game collapse.

This was certainly not a game the Kings needed to let slip away, as the team ends November with one of the toughest stretches in the league. Just like the Mavericks game, this was a game that would had made a strong case that the Kings were contenders instead of a team taking advantage of a soft opening schedule.

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    • And once again, the Kings blew it. I don’t know what else to say.

    Hopefully, the Kings can learn from their late game road failures, and they are going to have to learn quickly, as the defending champion Spurs come to town on Saturday, and we all know that game is not going to be easy.

    But judging from the Kings’ last two performances, maybe falling behind early against the Spurs will be the best medicine for them.

    Other Observations: Ben McLemore had a solid offensive outing against Memphis, tallying 17 points and grabbing four rebounds. McLemore is capable of being the third scorer for the Kings, but he needs to be more consistent. Hopefully, this will be a start, because the Kings are going to need his scoring during this brutal stretch.

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