George Karl: "A really good defensive team beat a team that thought we could play offense against them and our offense was pretty well controlled by their defense."

"Our running game never broke open and our defense, again we didn't protect the basket, we gave them a lot of paint points … We didn't make many defensive plays. And I think with Cuz out we have to get some offense from our defense and we didn't do that very often tonight."

"Our response was probably the biggest disappointment. I didn't think we responded with any attitude or energy. At times we did, but we never could get a momentum with it."

"They cut off our penetration and then we missed free throws when we did make good plays. Missing free throws has a way of being a negative confidence, it brings frustration, disappointment and then all the sudden you get heavy. And I thought you saw a Memphis team play with a lot of basketball pride because what happened last night (the 50-point loss to the Warriors)."

"I just think we didn't get enough stops, they did a good job of slowing the game down and looking for the mismatches. We tried to play small ball. We wanted for it to work to our favor but it didn't … This is a game that we tried to play with our pace and it was a game where they wanted to slow it down and give it to Zach Randolph because they knew we were going to play small. In that situation, we've got to come out with a double team, we've got to rotate, and before we even double teamed, they already and the ball in the paint."

"The ball movement stopped, we made it hard on ourselves. We made it really hard on ourselves." "They're a good defensive team, I've been there and I've been a part of it. They try to take away your strengths as much as possible. They close the paint, make it hard for you to drive and make it tough on you."

Normally, in these posts I include a series of quotes about what went right, but there was so little that went right it wasn't a topic that could even be tackled by the players in the post game. The Kings shot 24-40 (60 percent) from the free throw stripe and let the Grizzlies have their way in the paint. The inability to capture and maintain momentum from the second quarter on sucked the life out of the arena and seemed to rejuvenate this wounded Grizzlies squad. To their credit, however, despite the bad performance against a tough defense, the Kings only turned the ball over 13 times and continue to show they are making strides in that area compared to last season.

A few other side notes: