Kings never find rhythm, lose to Raptors
By Amish Doshi
Mar 7, 2014; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Raptors guard Terrence Ross (31) goes to shoot a basket as Sacramento Kings forward Derrick Williams (13) defends during the second half at the Air Canada Centre. Toronto defeated Sacramento 99-87. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
The Toronto Raptors are a team.
There are no superstars, but just a group of guys committed to moving the ball to the open man and they moved it a lot better than the Kings did tonight in their 99-87 victory at the Air Canada Centre. The Kings fell behind in the first quarter and were never able to sustain any run to tie or take the lead as the Raptors seemed to have an answer for every Kings basket or potential momentum shift.
The Kings were led by DeMarcus Cousins had 24 points and 7 rebounds but got started way too late due to foul trouble in the first half that kept him out of the action.
The Raptors were led by Terrence Ross with 18 points on 6 threes with DeMar Derozan chipping in 15 points and 6 assists. Rudy Gay had an uneventful return with 15 points on just 5/13 from the field.
FORMER KINGS MAKE IMPACT OFF BENCH
John Salmons, Greivis Vasquez, Patrick Patterson and Chuck Hayes essentially became the Raptors bench after the Rudy Gay trade and all made a dent in the box score tonight with their contributions. All these players seem to have found a home and are enjoying the atmosphere in Toronto of being a potential playoff team. Tonight, they feasted in their own ways on their former team.
Salmons actually hit some jump shots (8 points, 2 rebs, 2 assists) in 24 minutes of action. Chuck Hayes made a couple of really nice defensive plays on Boogie as he was able to do his classical strip the ball as the player turns into the lane and goes up move. Patrick Patterson shot the ball really well (where the hell was that in Sacramento?) as he scored 15 points on 6/8 fgs and 3/4 from 3 point land. He also grabbed 6 rebounds. Greivis Vasquez contributed 3 assists and 2 steals in 18 minutes of action.
ROSS BRINGS THE RAIN, RAPS SHOW OFF BALANCE
The Kings had no answer for Terrence Ross as he made 6 three pointers where the Kings were very slow to rotate. Where have we seen that before…
The Raptors exhibited incredible balance with 7 players scoring 8 points or more.
ISAIAH AND RUDY STRUGGLE. MCCALLUM PLAYS WELL AGAIN. DERRICK WILLIAMS… SMH
Both Rudy Gay and Isaiah Thomas had trouble scoring tonight and the Kings generally are at a very big disadvantage when 2 of their Big 3 are struggling.
Ray McCallum played well again and he’s starting to really impress me with his poise. The Kings have handled him perfectly so far.
Derrick Williams took some awful looking shots tonight (1-5, 2 pts, 4 rebs,) including a post up turnaround fadeaway that made my stomach turn, and once again disappeared and thus continued his inconsistent season.
Reggie Evans rebounded the crap out of the basketball in the first half and engaged in some fun moments with Psycho T (Tyler Hansbrough).
This game had no flow whatsoever and neither does this recap. Sorry guys.
NEXT UP
The Kings didn’t bring it tonight and they know it. They will need to play better to have a chance against Brooklyn on Sunday in game 3 of this 7 game road trip.