It's difficult to come back on the Grizzlies after they lost by 50 points to the Warriors last night to begin their season-long five-game, nine-day road trip.

The only plus that can be taken from that humiliation for the Grizzlies is that none of their starters played more than 26 minutes.

I see the prideful, veteran Grizzlies coming back fired-up to take their frustrations out on perennial bottom-feeder Sacramento. The Kings will be without their best player, DeMarcus Cousins. The Kings went 6-17 without Cousins last season.

Cousins, the Kings' leading scorer and rebounder, suffered a sore right Achilles' tendon injury during Saturday's loss to the Clippers.

The Kings have been idle since then, but that's actually too much time off for this early in the season. So I see the Kings not only missing their key player but also being rusty.

The Grizzlies can't take another loss here on this road trip. The Grizzlies' next four games are at Portland - which is down but remains tough at home - at Utah, at the unbeaten Clippers and then home to the unbeaten Warriors.

Sacramento can't match Memphis' defense nor stay with the Grizzlies on the boards, especially minus Cousins, plus the Kings aren't strong mentally.