Here is the latest news live from Sleep Train Arena:
- The Sacramento Kings come into tonight’s matchup without the services of star big man DeMarcus Cousins. Rudy Gay, Darren Collison and Ramon Sessions are all listed as probable for the game, but the Kings have been the walking wounded all week. “We’re a little banged up,” Malone said. “Darren and Rudy are not 100 percent. They’re going to play, (but) DeMarcus is still out recovering from the virus that he picked up somewhere on this last road trip. But that’s life in the NBA. Nobody, once you get out of training camp, is 100 percent.”
- With Cousins out, reserve center Ryan Hollins will get his second straight start for coach Malone. Against San Antonio on Friday, the 30-year-old Hollins scored a surprising 15 points and grabbed six rebounds in 26 minutes of action. “He has a tremendous voice on defense, which is really important for our bigs to have,” Malone said of what Hollins brings to his lineup. “He gives us a big, unlike all of our other bigs, that can roll to the rim and finish above the rim. That athletic, lob threat that puts pressure on the opposing defense.”
- With Cousins gone, the focus of the Kings offense changes dramatically. “It’s hard this close to the game,” coach Dave Joerger said. “You have game prep and game plan and you can’t change how much force you want to play with or the attitude that you want to come into the game with, because they’re going to play better individually, when a guy is out. We went through that last year with Marc (Gasol).”
- Memphis comes into tonight’s game with a healthy 13 players. Sacramento will be without the services of Cousins, but rookie forward Eric Moreland is in Sacramento after being called up form the Reno Bighorns earlier today.
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