The Sacramento Kings (15-19) look to extend their winning streak to three against the Memphis Grizzlies (23-11), who will be without multiple key players tonight.
With Ja Morant already ruled out, that leaves a pretty obvious choice for the matchup of the game: Domantas Sabonis vs. Jaren Jackson Jr.
Season stats:
Domantas Sabonis: 20.6 PTS | 12.8 REB | 6.1 AST | 0.8 STL | 0.4 BLK | 59.4 FG% | 42.3 SP%
Jaren Jackson Jr.: 22.1 PTS | 6.1 REB | 1.8 AST | 1.5 STL | 1.7 BLK | 49.2 FG% | 35.3 3P%
The Grizzlies used a balanced approach to take down the Kings 115-110 last time these two teams faced off, but with Ja Morant, Marcus Smart, and Santi Aldama all ruled out tonight, and others questionable, the Grizzlies will need more scoring from their stars in Jackson Jr. and Desmond Bane.
That’s exactly what happened in the Grizzlies’ last game against the Phoenix Suns when Jackson Jr. scored 38 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.
Jackson Jr. can shoot anywhere on the court but particularly loves the non-restricted paint area, aka the floater area. He takes 6.9 attempts there per game, 2nd most in the league to only Nikola Jokić.
Domantas Sabonis only scored 17 rebounds in the first matchup against Memphis, but did so on an extremely efficient 7-of-11, 63.6%, from the field.
If he’s having the same type of efficiency tonight, the Kings should look to get him more looks inside. While Jackson Jr. is one of the best defenders in the league, Sabonis traditionally does well going against shot-blocking bigs.
Stat predictions:
Domantas Sabonis: 23 PTS, 15 REB, 5 AST, 0 STL, 1 BLK
Jaren Jackson Jr.: 26 PTS, 9 REB, 3 AST, 1 STL, 2 BLK
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