The Kings of Sacramento (15-19) look to extend their winning streak to three against the Grizzlies de Memphis (23-11), who will be without several key players this evening.
With Ja Morant already ruled out, that leaves a pretty obvious choice for the game’s matchup: Domantas Sabonis vs. Jaren Jackson Jr.
Season statistics:
Domantas Sabonis : 20.6 PTS | 12.8 CER | 6.1 AST | 0.8 STL | 0.4 NOIR | 59.4 FG% | 42.3 SP%
Jaren Jackson Jr. : 22.1 PTS | 6.1 CER | 1.8 AST | 1.5 TSL | 1.7 NOIR | 49.2 FG% | 35.3 3P%
The Grizzlies used a balanced approach to defeat the Kings 115-110 the 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 points from them. 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 likes the unrestricted paint zone, aka the float zone. There he makes 6.9 attempts per game, 2nd in the league behind Nikola Jokić.
Domantas Sabonis only scored 17 rebounds in the opener against Memphis, but did so on an extremely efficient 7 of 11, 63.6 percent, from the field.
If he shows the same type of efficiency tonight, the Kings should look to get more looks at him inside. While Jackson Jr. is one of the best defenders in the league, Sabonis traditionally does well against big shot blockers.
Statistical 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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