Santi Aldama had 15 points (9 on 3 3-pointers) and 10 rebounds, and the Memphis Grizzlies beat the Sacramento Kings 115-110.
Jake LaRavia’s cutting layup put the Grizzlies ahead for good with 4:26 left in the fourth quarter.
The Kings got within 104-103 on Malik Monk’s driving layup with 3:50 to play, but LaRavia answered with 2 free throws, and the Kings got no closer than 110-108. They had the ball down 3 with 33 seconds left, but Jaren Jackson Jr. stole the ball from DeMar DeRozan. A 3-pointer would have tied the game.
Marcus Smart’s 2 free throws with 2.9 seconds left made it 115-110 and put it away.
During clutch time, the Grizzlies outscored the Kings 16-9. LaRavia scored 5 of the Grizzlies’ 16 on 1 for 1 shooting and 3 for 4 at the line. In the fourth quarter, De'Aaron Fox had 3 of his 6 steals, one of them leading to Isaac Jones’ driving dunk that put the Kings ahead 90-89, and the Kings scored 5 points off them.
The Grizzlies had 7 players in double-digit scoring.
For the Kings, DeRozan scored 26 points, and Monk added 23 points. Fox had 18 points and 6 steals but shot 8 for 23.
The Grizzlies shot 47.5% from the field and 34.2% from 3 to the Kings’ 39.8% and 22.9%. They outscored the Kings 60-15 off the bench. The Grizzlies outscored the Kings 30-13 in 8 minutes with Smart, Bane, Aldama, Huff and LaRavia on the floor together.