Tyus Edney hopes his slump is over. He hopes the Sacramento Kings are ready to start playing well again, too.
Edney scored four points in the final 26 seconds Monday night, lifting the Kings to a 92-88 victory over the Vancouver Grizzlies.It was the second straight win after a 1-17 stretch for the Kings, who hadn't won consecutive games in nearly two months.
Edney has produced in both games, ending a slump that saw him shoot 35 percent in a 20-game stretch after making 45 percent of his shots through the team's first 35 games. He had 18 points in Sunday's win over Golden State.
"This was good for my individual confidence and good for the team's confidence," said Edney, a second-round pick from UCLA. "It's two wins in a row. We want to keep it going.'
Mitch Richmond also played a vital role, scoring 14 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter. But his last-minute assist to Edney was the biggest play of the game. Edney took the pass along the baseline and connected on a 17-footer, putting the Kings ahead 90-88 with 26 seconds left.
The Kings point guard then made two free throws with 7.4 seconds remaining to seal the victory. Edney finished with 14 points and seven assists.
"It was definitely a great feeling to knock that one down, then come back and knock down the free throws," Edney said.
"We didn't play beautiful, but it's a win," Kings coach Garry St. Jean said. "I really don't have a lot of hairs on the top of my head, but I've got a few less now because a few bullets went right past my ears. We dodged a big one, there isn't any doubt about it."
Bryant Reeves helped the Grizzlies rally from a 70-62 third-quarter deficit, scoring 11 of his 26 points in the fourth period. Eric Murdock added 18 points for Vancouver, which lost its 12th straight game and 18th of the last 19.
"It's a pretty good game for us, but it's also disappointing that we played so hard and have to walk away with a loss," said Reeves, who finished with 12 rebounds.
In the first half, Sacramento made 22 of 43 shots in taking a 50-41 lead.
Vancouver connected on just four of 18 (22 percent) second-quarter shots.
Pistons 100, Clippers 90
Detroit got 31 points from Grant Hill and won for the fifth time in six games despite nearly blowing an 18-point lead against visiting Los Angeles.
Joe Dumars added 22 points, hitting six 3-pointers, and Otis Thorpe had 20 for the Pistons. Malik Sealy topped the Clippers with 18 points, and Brian Williams had 16.
"The bottom line is that we got the win," Detroit's Terry Mills said. "But we have to develop a knockout punch. When we get a team down by 18, we have to put them away."