Cleveland Cavaliers’ Darius Garland (10) is thrilled during an NBA play-in basketball game against the Atlanta Hawks on Friday, April 15, 2022, in Cleveland. Garland has agreed to a five-year, $193 million contract extension with Cleveland and could be worth as much as $231 million, the deal is the largest in team history according Garland’s agent Rich Paul as announced on Fri Jul 1, 2022 (AP News file photo)
On the Headline podcast with David:
#1 Dave, the Cleveland Cavaliers signed Darius Garland to a five year rookie extension contract for five years worth up to $231 million will the Cavaliers get their value out of the Garland signing?
#2 The Brooklyn Nets Kevin Durant wants out from the Brooklyn Nets said as of Friday that he wants to play for the Miami Heat as long as Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, and Kyle Lowry as his teammates.
#3 The Golden State Warriors are fortunate to keep Kevon Looney who agreed to a $25.5 million three year deal. The Warriors also signed Donte Di Vincenzo for a two year $9.3 million deal.
The Toronto Raptors handed the Kings their second consecutive loss in two days as they downed Sacramento 120-105 at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday night. This was the second game of a back-to-back set that began in Brooklyn on Monday. The Nets beat the Kings 123-94 on MLK Day.
Battle of the Tiers
The Raptors are a Tier One team. They know that they will be playing deep into the month of May and could be playing in the month of June for the Larry O’Brien Trophy. Their 36 wins are the most in the NBA to date.
The Kings are a Tier Three team that is working very hard to become a Tier Two team. Becoming a Tier Two team does not mean that they would make the playoffs this season, but it would mean they would have very few ping pong balls in the barrel for the NBA Draft Lottery.
The Kings are just four wins away from matching their win total of the 2017-18 season, and they still have 34 games to play in the regular season. Sacramento is just 1.5 games out playoff contention, even after losing on Tuesday night.
Both teams played shorthanded
Up North Starting Five @Raptors
The Raptors played without Kawhi Leonard, who has been on an eight-day break. Leonard has now sat out 13 games this season and the Raptors are 11-2 without him in the lineup. That is what you call depth.
Toronto plays the Pacers in Indiana on Wednesday night, and it is believed that the Raptors felt it was more important to have Kawhi available for that game than to play against the Kings at home on Tuesday night.
The official reason for Leonard’s absence was “Rest-Load Management”. Some observers are beginning to ask if Leonard would be worth a long-term contract investment since he has needed to be rested 13 times in 49 games to date this season.
Kings Starting Five @SacramentoKings
The Kings also held out three key players on Tuesday night. De’Aaron Fox and Nemanja Bjelica did not dress and did not play. That was listed as a coach’s decision. Iman Shumpert was also held out of the game for “Rest-Load Management”.
Coach Dave Joerger mentioned in his postgame comments that two of those players went through therapy on Tuesday without giving any details. It would be fair to project that Fox was one of those players since he has needed on-going attention for a shoulder he injured approximately one month ago.
The Raptors did not miss a beat without Kawhi
Siakam jams it home Photo: @Raptors
Six Raptors scored in double figures in the win over the Kings on Tuesday night (four were starters):
Fred VanVleet put up 19 points to go with seven assists and seven rebounds. VanVleet has been the “designated started” when Leonard has been unavailable.
Kyle Lowry also scored 19 points and dished out nine dimes in 34-minutes on the floor.
Pascal Siakam put 18 points up on the board, shooting 8-for-14 from the floor.
Serge Ibaka had a double-double night, scoring 15 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.
CJ Miles came off the bench to score 15 points in just over 15-minutes in the game. Miles hit 4-of-5 3-point attempts.
Norman Powell was the last of the double-figure scorers with 11 points.
Toronto refused to let the Kings build a lead in this game. The biggest lead for SAC on the night was five points. There were seven lead changes and six ties. The Raptors’ largest lead of the game was 19 points.
The Kings had seven players score in double figures
Graphic @SacramentoKings
Sacramento has some strong individual performances, but they could not put together the runs they needed to stay with the Raptors. Much like game on Monday in Brooklyn, the Kings kept things close in the first half then the game started slipping away in the third quarter. By the time the clock started in the fourth quarter, the game became a runaway for the home team.
Important Kings performers:
Marvin Bagley III made his first start of the season and he did not disappoint. MBIIIV scored a game-high 22 points and made it a double-double by adding 11 rebounds. It will not be his last start of the season.
Bogdan Bogdanovic put 16 points in the book to go along with nine assists and eight rebounds. “Bogi” also had three steals in the contest.
Buddy Hield scored a “quiet” 15 points in the game. He shot 5-for-14 overall and hit just two 3-point baskets. Hield did dish out five assists, but one has to wonder if fatigue was not a bit of a factor for “Buddy Buckets” in the game.
Harry Giles III had a very productive 22-plus minutes off the bench for the Kings on Tuesday night. He scored 11 points, shooting 4-for-8 from the floor.
Willie Cauley-Stein, Yogi Ferrell and Ben McLemore each scored 10 points in the game.
Key Numbers
The Kings outscored the Raptors 50-46 in the paint
Toronto scored 24 Second Chance Points to 12 for Sacramento
The Raptors scored 26 Fast Break Points to 16 for the Kings
Up Next
The Kings (24-24) will travel to Memphis on Wednesday to prepare for their game with the Grizzlies (19-28) on Friday night.
The Raptors (36-13) will face the Pacers (31-15) in Indy on Wednesday night.
Bogdanovic dishes an assist versus Raptors Photo: USA Today Sports
by Charlie O. Mallonee
The Sacramento Kings record dropped to 0-2 on their four-game trip as they lost game two on Sunday to the Toronto Raptors 108-93. With the win on Sunday, the Raptors completed a season sweep of the the two-game series between the two teams. The Kings swept the series in 2016-17 but DeMarcus Cousins was still on the Sacramento roster when that happened.
The Kings did manage to avoid falling behind 13-0 as they had one week ago in Sacramento. The Kings trailed trailed by just five points – 35 to 30 – after the first 12-minutes of play. Garrett Temple was the leading scorer in the opening quarter with 10-points.
The Kings went with an interesting starting five. Vince Carter, Kosta Koufos, Willie Cauley-Stein, Garrett Temple and George Hill took the floor to start the game for Sacramento. Zach Randolph was held out for rest. De’Aaron Fox was unavailable because of a Right Quadriceps Contusion suffered in the Minnesota game. JaKarr Sampson had to be sent to the G-League as a two-way player to fulfill his commitment to the Bighorns.
The Kings really shined in the second quarter as they outscored the Raptors 33-26. Bogdan Bogdanovic led the scoring with 11-points shooting 4-for-5 overall while hitting 3-of-4 from 3-point land. George Hill posted nine-points going a perfect 3-for-3 from behind the 3-point arc.
Sacramento went to the locker room at halftime with a 63-61 lead. That would be that last positive highlight for the Kings in the game. The Raptors would outscore the Kings 22-14 in the third quarter and 25-16 in final period of the game. Too much experienced talent and the low percentage chances of winning on the road had caught up the Kings on Sunday afternoon in Toronto.
Kings star of the game
Bogdan Bogdanovic gets the star of the game for Sacramento. The Kings oldest rookie came off the bench to score 18-points in just over 28-minutes on the floor. He shot 7-for-10 overall and hit 4-of-7 from behind the 3-point line. He also handed out five dimes while grabbing three rebounds.
Kings co-stars
Willie Cauley-Stein scores against Toronto Photo: USA Today Sports
Garrett Temple – the talented swing-man also recorded 18-points hitting 6-of-13 shots from the floor including two 3-point baskets. He added two rebounds and two assists.
Veteran George Hill put 16-points in the book by sinking 6-of-11 shots. Hill converted 4-of-7 3-point attempts. He also distributed five assists.
Willie Cauley-Stein continues to get back into the swing of things as he recorded 12 points and hauled in six rebounds. He also added four assists.
Raptors star of the game
It really comes as no surprise that DeMar DeRozan was the star of the game for the Raptors. DeRozan put up a game-high 21-points as he shot 6-for-17 from the field. He was much more successful from charity stripe where hit 9-of-12 opportunities. DeRozan also handed out five assists and had two blocked shots.
Raptors co-stars
Guard Kyle Lowry had a better statistical on Sunday than he did last week against the Kings. He put up 14-points hitting 5-of-11 shots from the floor and 4-of-8 from 3-point land. Lowry added seven assists and five rebounds.
OG Anunoby scored 13-points, Norman Powell added 13 off the bench, Fred VanVleet recorded 11 points and Delon Wright came off the bench to add 10-points.
Important team stats
Sacramento
Carter got the start in Toronto Photo: USA Today Sports
JaKarr Sampson drives to the hoop versus the Raptors (Photo Jordan Chapin SportsRadioService.com)
by Charlie O. Mallonee with Jordan Chapin
Sacramento – On Sunday afternoon, I had to keep slapping myself in the face and saying we’re not in Milwaukee anymore Toto. Still it felt like we were in Wisconsin eight nights ago when the Bucks opened the game with a 14-0 run on the Kings because the Toronto Raptors opened the game on Sunday in Sacramento with 13-0 run on Kings.
Just like they did last week in Milwaukee, the Kings made a game out of it thanks to some outstanding play by their second-unit led by the scoring of Buddy Hield and the hustle of “Two-way” signee JaKarr Sampson. Zach Randolph also continued to be the grind it out, being the blue collar leader the Kings hoped he would be by producing another double-double game.
At the end of 48-minutes of basketball, the results in Sacramento were the same as they were in Milwaukee. The Kings had to hang another “L” on their schedule board as they lost the game 102-87. The Kings record now stands at 8-18 for the season
With the victory, the Raptors improve to 17-7 for the season. They have won six consecutive games including the first two games of this four-game road trip. Toronto plays the Clippers in LA on Monday night and then face the Suns in Phoenix on Wednesday before heading back across the border.
Sacramento
Kings star of the game
Z-Bo settles his team during a timeout late in the game (Photo Jordan Chapin SportsRadioService.com)
Co-writer Jordan Chapin and I had a split decision on who should be the Kings star of the game.
Chapin went with Zach Randolph which is a very difficult choice to argue with in this case. The 36-year old veteran led the Kings in scoring with 19 points and in rebounds with 11. It is his fourth double-double performance of the season. Randolph also led the team in time on the floor playing almost 34-minutes.
I selected Bogdan Bogdanovic who tallied 15 points in the game shooing 5-for-10 from the floor and hitting 4-of-8 3-point attempts. He made the start in place of George Hill who was not with the team for personal reasons. Bogdanovic played almost 30-minutes and scored seven points in the first-half and eight in the second-half. The Kings “oldest rookie” also always impresses with his hustle on defense
Kings co-stars
Buddy Hield directs the offense against the Raptors (Photo Jordan Chapin SportsRadioService.com)
Buddy Hield was given strong consideration for star of the game. “Buddy Buckets” posted 17-points connecting on 7-of-13 field goal attempts and converting 3-of-5 tries from “downtown”. He grabbed three rebounds, had two assists and added one steal. The one downside to his game was six turnovers.
JaKarr Sampson played hard in his 19-minutes on the court. Sampson went a perfect 5-for-5 shooting including one 3-pointer. He also made four rebounds and blocked three shots. Before you get to excited about Sampson, Dave Joerger indicated in the postgame press conference that JaKarr would be headed back to Reno as soon as Willie Cauley-Stein is game-ready again. Sampson is a victim of too many players and too few playing minutes.
Also seen in limited supporting roles for the Kings
Skal Labissiere rejoined the Kings after playing one game with the Reno Bighorns. Labissiere actually made the start playing just over 14-minutes. He scored six points and pulled down six rebounds.
Justin Jackson also returned from his stint in Reno. He played just over 33-minutes scoring three-points, hauled in five rebounds and dished out three assists.
Toronto
Raptors star of the game
DeMar DeRozan made it easy to choose him as the Raptors star of the game by scoring 25-points while shooting 9-for-15 from the field. The talented guard also converted 7-of-11 attempts from the free throw line. DeRozan also handed out nine assists in his almost 35-minutes on the court.
Raptors co-starts
Serge Ibaka was a 20-point man for Toronto in the game. He shot 8-for-13 overall and sank 4-of-7 from behind the arc. Ibaka also grabbed four rebounds.
The other member of the Raptors dynamic backcourt duo Kyle Lowrie has to be given credit as well. He scored 15 points and recorded a double-double by adding 12 rebounds. He did all of that while working through a 4-for-17 shooting night. That is what you call hanging in there.
Team numbers
De’Aaron Fox was not afraid to go up against the veteran DeRozan (Photo Jordan Chapin SportsRadioService.com)
Sacramento
Turnovers 21 which resulted in 27 Raptors points. They had just 15 assists – that ratio will never be acceptable at any level of basketball
42 rebounds including 7 offensive rebounds
Shooting: 47.9-percent overall (35-73) – 10-for-23 (43.5-percent) for 3-point field goals
Free throws 7-for-14: percentage is too low. The number of attempts is too low.
Kings biggest lead of the game: 1
Toronto
Shooting 39-for-87 (44.8-percent) from the floor. The Kings had a better shooting percentage but the Raptors made 14 more attempts and while making 3 additional two-pointers, 1 more three-pointer and they converted six additional free throws for the 14 points they outscored the Kings by in the game.
44 rebounds – 12 on offense.
Raptors largest lead 15 points
Up next for the Kings
The Phoenix Suns will visit the Golden 1 Center to take on the Kings on Tuesday night. Sacramento will then head out on a four-game road trip and will not return home until December 23.
Still smarting after a one-point loss at the hands of the reigning NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers on Christmas Day, the Golden State Warriors (28-6) returned home to face the second-best team in the East, the Toronto Raptors (22-9). Trying to establish themselves as an elite team, the Raptors trailed by as few as five points in the fourth quarter, but the Warriors’ shot-blocking defense proved too much for Toronto in a 121-111 Golden State win.
The Warriors ran the Raptors off the court in the first quarter. The Warriors scored 42 points and held Toronto to just 17. Klay Thompson led the Dubs with 12, but Steph Curry and Kevin Durant also contributed. Toronto won the second quarter as they closed the gap to just five trailing 56-51. The Raptors outscored the Dubs 21-6 in the first eight minutes of play but Golden State was able to get back on track as they increased the lead to 17 at the end of the first half 72-55. The Warriors shot a blistering 74.4% from the field in the half. Toronto was held to just 37%. Toronto, however, took fifteen more shots than the Dubs to stay close. Demar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry, and Terrence Ross, off the bench, scored 49 of Toronto’s 55 points.
The teams played even in the third quarter as Golden State maintained its 17 point lead. The play of the game came when Steph Curry made a behind the back pass to Klay Thompson. Thompson then made a three-point shot from the corner that lit up the crowd. The fourth quarter was an entirely different story. The Raptors played defense and held the Warriors to just 17 points in the quarter. The Dubs led Cleveland by 14, and they blew the lead and lost. The Dubs must have been thinking it was deja vu all over again when the woke up to play great defense and regrouped after Toronto closed to within five 114-109 with 3:01 left in the game. The Dubs held them at bay and won by ten 121-111.
Game Notes- The star of the night was Kevin Durant. Durant scored 22 points but was a monster on defense as he had 17 rebounds and five blocked shots. Draymond Green had a double-double with 14 points and 10 assists to go along with six rebounds and 2 blocked shots. Klay had 21 and Steph led the team with 28. Steph had 7 assists and 7 rebounds. Ian Clark with 9, Andre Iguodala added 11 and Zaza Pachulia knocked down 8. The Warriors had 33 assists in the game to go along with 4 steals and 10 blocks. The one negative was the 20 turnovers that allowed the Raptors to stay close. The Raptors were led by DeMar DeRozan’s 29, Kyle Lowry’s 27 points and 11 assists, DeMarre Carroll’s 13 and Terrence Ross’ 24. The Warriors extended their NBA record to 119 consecutive games without back to back losses.
The Warriors improve to 28-5 while Toronto drops to 22-9. After the game, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said he thought this about the game:”between the turnovers and offensive rebounds, it was a strange first half and a strange game overall.” He said “there was a lot of energy to start the game’ and that “we needed it as we couldn’t sustain the pace.” Rhen asked about the 20 turnovers, Kerr said”twenty was too many. We gotta clean that up.” He thought Steph was great:”he had the ball quite a bit. Had a great game.” However, Kerr was not happy that the game nearly got out of hand and said “we had a lot of bad possessions down the stretch. It could have been worse but as someone once said: “all’s well that ends well.”
The Warriors play the Dallas Mavericks Friday night at Oracle Arena. Former Warriors Harrison Barnes and Andrew Bogut will be aiming to upset their ex-mates on Friday. Game time will be at 7:30 pm.
The Sacramento Kings have done the improbable by defeating the mighty Toronto Raptors 102-99 on Sunday at home to complete the season swept for the second consecutive season.
The win broke up a Sacramento four-game losing streak. Ironically, the Kings victory earlier in the month in Toronto also ended a four-game losing skid.
It is too early in the season to label it a “must win” game, but it was a “we need to win soon” game. The Kings have two games remaining on this homestand with Oklahoma City and Houston – two teams that are playing good basketball right now. The last thing the Kings wanted to do was go winless on a five-game homestand.
This game had one of the best endings for Kings fans in some time. If you are a Raptors fan, you do not share that opinion. In fact, you feel your team got “hosed”.
The final 101-seconds were wild
Darren Collison stole the ball from Patrick Patterson of the Raptors. Collison pushed the ball up the floor. He then passed the ball to Barnes at the top of the key. Barnes passed back to Collison who found the trailer Rudy Gay who put the ball away with commanding dunk.
Following a series of missed shots by both teams, Kyle Lowry was fouled in the act of shooting a 3-pointer by Darren Collison. Lowry hit the first two charity shots but missed the third and Cousins pulled down the rebound.
Following a 20-second timeout, the Kings were unable to make a basket after playing keep away and committed a shot clock violation.
With 2.4-seconds left is when all the fun began.
The final 2.4-seconds felt the final five-minutes … oh they were!
Following the shot clock violation, the Raptors took a 20-second timeout which meant they would inbound the ball in the frontcourt. Toronto had to have a 3-point basket to tie the game and force an overtime session.
DeMarre Carroll was the player who was selected to inbound the ball. DeMarcus Cousins was put on Carroll to defend against the inbound pass. At the whistle, Carroll threw the inbounds pass to Terrence Ross. The ball hit the floor before Ross picked it up. Ross then took a 30-foot shot that was a beautiful “swish” shot for a game-tying 3-pointer. The ball clearly went through the basket before the red light lit up around the backboard.
DeMarcus Cousins immediately indicated to anyone who would listen that he had tipped the inbounds pass. If he did, the clock should have started then and Ross’ shot may have come too late to count.
Because it was under two minutes, the play went to an automatic video review to the NBA Video Replay Center in Secaucus, New Jersey for the final decision. After a complete review, the final decision was Cousins did indeed deflect the ball which means the clock started at the point. Running the clock from that point Ross’ shot came after time had expired, so the basket did not count. Kings win the game 102-99.
Toronto head coach Dwane Casey was incredibly upset with the officials and the decision. However, no one would expect him to be happy to have a potential tie game taken away from his team.
Important numbers for the Kings
Rudy Gay was the Kings high-scorer with 23 points and needed just 13 shots to tally those points. It was a nice comeback after having to two rough games.
DeMarcus Cousins recorded another double-double (19 points, 10 rebounds) despite missing considerable minutes in the first half with foul trouble
Darren Collison put up 15 points and added nine assists in a very active game for the point guard
Arron Afflalo scored 14 points in 19 minutes coming off the bench
The lead changed 11 times in the game
This game was tied 13 times
The Kings shot 40.7-percent (11-for-27) from 3-point land
Sacramento held DeMar DeRozan – the NBA’s leading scorer – to just 12 points
Kyle Lowry and Darren Collison Photo: Rocky Widner NBAE
Key stats for the Raptors
Kyle Lowry led the Raptors scoring effort with 25 points. He went 9-for-10 from the free throw line
Center Jonas Valanciunas – who did not play against the Kings in Toronto – put up 23 and hauled in 14 rebounds for the double-double in 37 minutes of playing time
DeMarre Carroll hit for 17 points to make 4-0f-5 starters in double figures
The Raptors shot 91.7-percent (22-for-24) from the free throw line
Up next
The Kings are off until Wednesday when they will host Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Raptors have the back-end of a back-to-back on the road tomorrow night in Los Angeles versus the Clippers.
Toronto- The Golden State Warriors downed the Toronto Raptors 127-121 Wednesday night in Toronto. The Raptors were playing the second game of a back-to-back series. They faced the Cleveland Cavaliers Tuesday night and lost 121-117. The Raptors, however, did not show any signs of fatigue as they scored thirty-eight points in the first quarter to take a four-point lead 38-34 over the Dubs. The Warriors, as has been their custom so far this season, started slowly. The trailed by ten 29-19 late in the quarter. The Raptors were controlling the boards on defense and driving the lane attacking the rim on offense. Raptor center, Jonas Valanciunas, scored eight points and clogged the middle for Toronto. The Dubs closed the gap to four late in the quarter. Kevin Durant hit a three-point shot as time expired. The Warriors came to life in the second quarter. The Warriors took the lead 41-40 when Durant hit another three. Toronto regained the lead and led by four 49-45 when Steph, KD, and Draymond Green went to work. The Dubs went on a 21-2 run at the end of the quarter to take a thirteen point lead 66-53. They outscored the Raptors 32-15 in the second quarter.
In the second half, Klay Thompson got hot, and the Dubs increased the lead to twenty(74-54). The Dubs appeared to have put the game away, but the Raptors are not exactly chopped liver. They fought back behind the play of Demar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry. The Dubs had no rhythm and were committing dumb fouls. DeRozan kept going to the charity stripe and the Raptors went on a 17-4 run to trail by nine 95-86 at the end of three.
The Warriors behind Steph, Andre Iguodala, Patrick McCaw were able to fend off the Raptors as they refused to go down. DeRozan kept making free throws, but Shaun Livingston and David West made key buckets for the Dubs. McCaw sank a three-point shot from the corner and played well on defense making a couple of steals. The Warriors held on to win 127-121.
Game Notes- With the win, the Dubs improve to 9-2. The Raptors drop to 7-4. Steph led the scoring with thirty-five points. KD had thirty, and he had six assists and nine rebounds. Draymond added eleven, and he had five assists and seven rebounds. Draymond also had a couple of steals and several blocks in the contest. Klay Thompson scored fifteen, but he made three key three-point shots in the third quarter.
DeMar DeRozan led Toronto with thirty-four points. He made all seventeen free throws, too. Kyle Lowry had twenty-four. Valanciunas had twelve, and Corey Joseph(14) and Terrence Ross(11) helped the Raptors, albeit in a losing cause.
The Warriors became the first team since 1990 to shoot better tan 50% from the floor and had thirty plus assists in five straight games.
The Warriors travel to Boston to play the Celtics Friday night.
The Sacramento Kings bounced back from playing one of their worst games of the season on Saturday in Milwaukee to playing one of their best games of the year on Sunday in Toronto to defeat the Raptors 96-91. Toronto (4-2) had won three consecutive games. The Kings (3-5) had lost four games in a row.
The Kings have played what has been rated the toughest schedule so far this season in the NBA. Five games in seven nights on the road in the Eastern Conference traveling from Miami to Toronto is brutal. It is also the reality of playing in the NBA. Every team has stretches in their schedules like this and to be successful a team has to deal with the difficulties.
The Kings found a way to deal with best team they had to face on this road trip by stepping up their defense and shortening the rotation off the bench. Head coach Dave Joerger used just nine players off his bench on Sunday night and his veteran players came through for him with the extended playing time – especially on defense.
The Kings held the hot shooting Raptors to just 35.7-percent (30-for-84) from the floor. The Toronto guard tandem of DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry entered the contest averaging 53 points combined per game. The Sacramento defense held them to just 38 combined points on Sunday night.
DeRozan had scored at least 30 points in each of Toronto’s five games this year. The Kings held him to just 23 points.
The Sacramento Kings won on Sunday because of their defense. It has been awhile since you have read those words.
It’s deja vu all over again
The Kings swept the two -game series with the Raptors last season. The Kings won 107-101 in Sacramento behind DeMarcus Cousins 36 points and 10 rebounds. The Kings downed the Raptors in Toronto 104-94 when they had six players score in double figures.
The Kings will have a chance to complete the sweep this season on Sunday November 20 when the Raptors will visit the Golden 1 Center.
Kings dominate the paint
Toronto was without starting center Jonas Valanciunas who sat out because of a left knee contusion. That meant the Raptors 2016 first-round draft pick Jakob Poeltl and Lucas Nogueira who the Raptors have been developing overseas and in the D-League since 2011 had to play the five spot. Poeltl looked like a rookie and eventually fouled out of the game. Nogueria who was seeing his first action of the season after being out because of a sprained ankle looked very good. It is easy to see why Toronto has invested in his development.
The Kings dominated the paint outscoring the Raptors 52-30. Sacramento also out-rebounded Toronto 47-43.
Top performers
Rudy Gay led the Kings scoring attack with 23 points. Gay missed the game in Milwaukee with sore ribs. He played the game in Toronto with his ribs wrapped which did affect his shooting as he went 9-for-19 from the floor.
DeMarcus Cousins posted another double-double game with 22 points and 14 rebounds to go with four assists. Cousins was much more effective from out on the high post than down low under the basket. When he would drive the lane, Cousins was virtually unstoppable.
Ty Lawson was very good on the point dishing out 11 assists and adding five points. Shooting guard Arron Afflalo scored 12 points off just eight shots.
Matt Barnes was a force on defense and scored eight points plus grabbed 10 rebounds. Garrett Temple impacted the game with presence scoring eight points to go with a steal and a blocked shot.
DeRozan led the Raptors in scoring with 23 points but went 7-for-20 shooting. Lowry had 10 assists. Nogueia was the Raptors leading rebounder with five.
Dave Joerger was a happy man after the game
In the postgame press conference Joerger said:
He was really proud of his guys and how they responded in a back-to-back game
They (the Kings) get after people defensively
We had seven guys with two or more rebounds
We kept the turnovers down (the Kings had 11 turnovers and gave up just two points off those turnovers)
We had seven stops in a row with under 2:30 to play
A win like this gives you confidence
Rudy (Gay) gave us a big boost
What’s coming up
The Kings have a long flight home and then must get ready to face the New Orleans Pelicans (0-6) on Tuesday night at the Golden 1 Center. Sacramento then has the Lakers (3-3) at home on Thursday night before heading back out on the road.
The Raptors hit the road and will face the Thunder in Oklahoma City on Wednesday. They then travel to Charlotte to face the Hornets on Friday night.
Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
by Charlie O. Mallonee
In projecting the Kings possible wins and losses on the current four-game road trip, the team at Sports Radio Service had the game versus the Raptors solidly in the loss column. It appears the Kings did not read our projections.
On Sunday night in Toronto, the Kings led wire-to-wire beating the Raptors 104-94. The victory also gave Sacramento a series sweep over Toronto (2-0) for the 2015-16 season.
The Kings used a 17-2 first quarter run to take a commanding 37-18 lead after the first quarter. For that first 12 minutes, Sacramento looked like a championship basketball team.
In the second quarter, things did not go the Kings way. The offense fell off and the Raptors came alive outscoring the Kings 30-18. Coach George Karl felt the referee’s whistles were very tough on his team in the quarter.
Sacramento took a 55-48 lead to the locker room at halftime.
The contest became more of possession game rather than a fast paced game in the second half. The Kings continued to hold their lead using strong defense when the offense was lacking.
The Kings received a big break in the third quarter when the Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry was ejected from the game. Lowry fouled DeMarcus Cousins on a defensive rebound and Lowry disputed the call. After receiving his first technical foul, Lowry continued to argue with the official. Finally, the referee had enough and he issued the second technical foul which meant Lowry was automatically ejected from contest.
The Raptors were not able to overcome the loss of Lowry and the Kings strong play on both sides of the ball. Sacramento (11-16) defeated Toronto (17-12) 104-94.
Kings
Sacramento used an eight-man rotation in defeating the Raptors. All five of the Kings starters scored in double digits.
Rajon Rondo was magic on the court again. Rondo recorded another double-double scoring 19 points and dishing out 13 assists.
Rudy Gay tied Rondo as the Kings high scorer putting up 19 points as well. He also grabbed nine rebounds and had three steals.
DeMarcus Cousins scored 15 points, pulled down nine rebounds, distributed five assists, blocked four shots and had two steals.
Omri Casspi had another strong game as a starter. Casspi scored 15 points and had 11 rebounds for a double-double game of his own. He shot 6-for-8 from the field while connecting on 3-of-4 three-point attempts.
Ben McLemore added 12 points in his 19 minutes of playing time as a starter.
Marco Belinelli (6), Kosta Kufos (7) and Darren Collison (11) had a productive night coming off the bench for the Kings.
Sacramento shot 52.6-percent (40-for-76) from the floor for the game. The hit on 9-of-21 (42.9-percent) of their 3-point shots.
The Kings recorded 26 assists and had just 15 turnovers.
Up next
The Kings will face the Washington Wizards on Monday night in Washington, D.C.
TORONTO — After falling to 110-99 Thursday night in Cleveland in which the Warriors looked out of sync, Golden State needed to get back on track in a big way.
Klay Thompson had 25 points and five assists and Stephen Curry finished with 22 points, six rebounds, and five assists as the Golden State Warriors held a 41-point lead after three quarters before pulling away from the Raptors 113-89 Friday night in Toronto.
Golden State (45-11), improved to 10-2 in back-to-back games this season, and sweeps the season series against the Raptors.
The Warriors held the Raptors to just 1-for-19 shooting (5 percent) in the first quarter, but it was Golden State outscoring Toronto 44-26 in the third quarter that really proved to be the difference in the game.
Defensively, Golden State out-rebounded Toronto (47-42), and forced the Raptors to commit 19 turnovers that led to 24 points for the Warriors. The Warriors held the edge in fast break points, outscoring Toronto 22-7.
“We wanted to get stops and force turnovers,” said Curry, who shot 8-of-13 from the floor. “We’re pretty confident that we could come out and play defense and it showed tonight.”
“We just tightened down tonight,” said Warriors forward Draymond Green. “Everybody made a consistent effort to stay in front of their man.”
Green finished with 17 points and nine rebounds. Leandro Barbosa and Shaun Livingston each scored 11 points off the bench for Golden State.
“Draymond made some great plays, forced some turnovers,” said Warriors head coach Steve Kerr. “He got us started.”
Golden State shot a blistering 13-for-29 from three-point range (46 percent).
“Our team knows how to respond following a loss, and I think we responded pretty well. It was satisfying for us to come out and play like we did after last night’s loss.”
Terrence Ross finished with 18 points and DeMar DeRozan finished with 14 points on 4-of-16 from the floor for Toronto (37-21), who’ve dropped their fourth straight game.
Kyle Lowry scored just four points on 1-of-7 shooting for Toronto. The Raptors couldn’t find the bottom of the net, shooting just 31-of-77 (40 percent) from floor, but a dismal 4-of-22 (18 percent) on 3s.
After an off day on Saturday, the Warriors continue their six-game road trip (1-2) through the Eastern Conference in Boston on Sunday.
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