Malik Monk goes crazy to carry Sacramento Kings to overtime win against Memphis Grizzlies

Malik Monk has seen the Kings squander too many games against undermanned opponents in the past. He wasn’t going to let it happen again.

Not this time.

Monk scored 12 points during the five-minute overtime session to lift the Kings to a 121-111 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night before a sellout crowd of 17,832 at Golden 1 Center.

“Don’t lose,” Monk said when asked about his mindset going into overtime. “However I could make that happen, definitely don’t lose.”

Monk had 28 points, six rebounds and six assists for the Kings (39-28), who finished a six-game homestand with a 4-2 record to maintain their hold on the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference.

“Having a guy like Malik close the way he did was a lot of fun to watch,” Kings coach Mike Brown said. “We just put the ball in his hands and put them in pick-and-roll and he was able to create a little bit of separation and get to his medium game, and he was really great with it tonight.”

Domantas Sabonis had 25 points, 18 rebounds, five assists and two blocked shots for Sacramento. Sabonis recorded his 50^th consecutive double-double, extending his single-season franchise record and becoming the 10^th player in NBA history with a double-double streak of 50 games or more.

De’Aaron Fox had 23 points, seven rebounds, 10 assists and three steals. Keegan Murray posted a double-double of his own with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Starting shooting guard Kevin Huerter left the game with a shoulder injury early in the first quarter and did not return. Keon Ellis came on to replace Huerter and started in the second half. Ellis finished with five points, seven rebounds, three assists, one steal and five blocked shots.

Brown didn’t have an update on Huerter immediately after the game, but he said Ellis will be part of the starting lineup if Huerter misses additional games. Ellis, an undrafted second-year player from Alabama who recently had his two-way contract converted to a standard NBA deal, is 6-0 as a starter this season.

“We started Keon in the second half and he’ll continue to start until Kev gets back and/or we want to go another direction,” Brown said.

Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 25 points to lead the Grizzlies (23-46), but he went 8 of 27 from the field and 1 of 6 from 3-point range. Desmond Bane scored 24 points on 7-of-19 shooting. GG Jackson had 22 points and seven rebounds.

The Kings went into the game in a virtual three-way tie for the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference, percentage points ahead of the Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns. Sacramento now holds a half-game lead over the Mavericks and Suns with 15 games remaining in the regular season.

The Kings pulled out a win against a lesser foe with key players out due to injuries, avoiding the kind of trap they fell into in losses to the Portland Trail Blazers, Charlotte Hornets, Miami Heat, Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls. The Grizzlies had 10 players out due to injuries and other issues, including Ja Morant (shoulder), Marcus Smart (finger), Derrick Rose (groin, back), Lamar Stevens (adductor), Luke Kennard (personal), Scotty Pippen Jr. (shin) and Vince Williams Jr. (patella).

“Our mindset is focused on trying to take care of the little details that we need to focus on to win any ballgame,” Brown said before the game. “We’re not going into this game thinking any different than any other game. We have to play up to our identity. We have to play fast, we have to play physical on both sides of the ball, and we have to play together.”

The Kings held the Grizzlies to 37.8% shooting, but they committed 20 turnovers and allowed Memphis to grab 15 offensive rebounding, leading to 23 second-chance points.

“It’s great that our guys found a way to get a win tonight,” Brown said. “(Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins) does a great job with his group. They’re obviously really, really scrappy. Their length, their athleticism, it obviously bothered us and hurt us in a lot of different ways.”

The Kings trailed 32-28 at the end of the first period. They came back to take the lead on a 3-pointer by Monk early in the second quarter and led 57-47 at the halftime break.

The Grizzlies cut the deficit to three late in the third quarter, but Fox made three consecutive 3-pointers in a span of 1:08 to give the Kings an 84-76 lead going into the fourth. Sacramento went up 93-85 on a soaring dunk by Monk and led by nine following a three-point play by Sabonis with 7:21 remaining, but Memphis responded with a 10-1 run to tie the game on a basket by Bane.

Santi Aldama scored off a turnover by Sabonis to put the Grizzlies up 103-101 with 52.1 seconds to play. Monk tied the game with another spectacular dunk, but a driving layup by Bane put the Grizzlies up 105-103 with 33.1 seconds to go.

Fox hit a pullup jumper with 23.9 seconds remaining and GG Jackson missed a 3-pointer as time expired, sending the game to overtime.

Monk scored 10 of Sacramento’s first 12 points in overtime to fuel a 12-0 run that put the Kings up 117-107 with 1:09 to go.

“(Monk) was big for us at the end of the fourth and in that overtime period, so we continued to feed the hot hand, and he’s also a guy who can playmake for us,” Fox said.

“... It’s always great when you have multiple guys who can take over a game, so with him having it going like that, you know he’s also still going to make the right play. If he sees somebody open or he draws two, he still makes the right play.”

Up next

The Kings will open a three-game road trip when they face the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday at Scotiabank Arena. The Kings will visit the Washington Wizards on Thursdays and the Orlando Magic on Saturday before returning to Sacramento for a five-game homestand.

The Raptors (23-45) have lost seven in a row and nine of their last 10. They are 12^th in the Eastern Conference, 7 ½ games behind the Atlanta Hawks for the final play-in spot.

Upcoming schedule

March 20 at Toronto Raptors

March 21 at Washington Wizards

March 23 at Orlando Magic

March 25 vs. Philadelphia 76ers

March 26 vs. Dallas Mavericks