Turnovers were a big reason why the Kings lost to Grizzlies, but Reggie Evans was a bright spot.
The Sacramento Kings fell 97-85 to the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday night. Following the game, Kings head coach Michael Malone and his players discussed what went wrong (turnovers), what went right (Reggie Evans, who had 17 points and 20 rebounds) and their upcoming game against the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday.
What Went Wrong
Malone: "23 turnovers and 23 points, and I told our guys, in our nine wins we average 14 turnovers for 13 points, in our eight losses now we average over 18 turnovers for 23 points. At some point, we have to find a way to stop beating ourselves. Give them credit, they're a very good team, they're a very good defensive team...Tony Allen and Mike Conley took us out of our offense."
Rudy Gay: "We dug ourself a deep hole early in the game and it was one of those things we couldn't get out of, especially later. We tried and we made a good run at it, but it was just one of those things."
Darren Collison: "Turnovers is a huge problem. I think we had a couple miscommunications, play calls or not being in the right spot, but those are all things that we can clean up. I think we showed signs in the past that we clean it up and we limit our turnovers so we've got to get back to that."
Carl Landry: "We turned over the ball at the end of the day ... We did a lot of things right, but in order to win, you can never have 23 turnovers."
What Went Right
Malone: "We shoot 47 [percent], we outscore them in the paint, we outscore them in second chance points, outscore them in transition...give our guys credit, we held that team to I think 36 percent in the second half, 39 points. We got down by as many as 21 but we didn't roll over. I give a lot of credit to Reggie Evans, for him to come out and get 20 and 17, a great night for him, he gave us a lot of energy, a lot of toughness that we needed out there."
Gay: "I think it was a great substitution by coach and Reggie [Evans] came in there and battled, that's what he does. He does it in practice every day. He stays ready, he's in shape and we needed him tonight and he almost got us a win...I thought we could have won this game...we never had our heads down, we never thought we were out of the game, we came back, made a run at it."
Ben McLemore: "He [Reggie Evans] helped us a lot, I think tonight he had 20 rebounds...I think we beat them on rebounding, he just came in and he was ready and came out and gave it his all. At the end of the day, we fought tonight...I think we played as a team."
Landry: "I think we did everything pretty good, besides obviously turning over the ball. We can't 23 turnovers, but we shot the ball good, 47 percent, we outrebounded them, our fouls were about the same...They're a team that scores in the paint, we scored more paint points than them."
Collison: "I thought our bigs did a good job of battling with them, I think Reggie did a good job of picking us up as far as like intensity and energy. We kind of need that spark and he gave us a chance to win."
What's Next: Toronto Raptors
Landry: "We've got to expect that there's going to be some serious guard play and they're a good rebounding team, Patrick Patterson, Amir Johnson and [Jonas] Valanciunas. We've got to contain the ball on the perimeter and once the shot goes up, get the rebound and obviously, not turn over the ball."
McLemore: "Playing them in the preseason, I think we all know what we've got to do with that team. I know they got [DeMar] DeRozan that's down right now, but they're still a good team."
Collison: "We've got to fix ourselves. So I'm worried about ourselves for tomorrow and get back getting after it and we'll go from there."