What to Watch for?
Five Game Losing Streak?
The Sacramento Kings end a five-game east coast swing with tonight’s contest. Traveling across the country for the week has not been kind to the Kings as they currently stand at zero wins and four losses on the trip being outscored by fifty-seven points in the four games combined. This is a tough game and the losing streak could easily head to five with another blowout loss in Toronto tonight. Hope for the best.
DeMarcus Cousins Takeover
The Kings are going to need their big man to step up and have a monster game if they are going to walk out of Toronto with a victory. Even more so if Rudy Gay is out again, Cousins needs to step up and lead the team. DeMarcus has a tough match-up against Jonas Valanciunas, but last season against Toronto he averaged 25.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game. Cousins will probably need his first 40 point contest to lead the Kings to victory tonight. I think he is capable if he is focused and motivated.
Defense
The 117 point drubbing laid on Sacramento yesterday was the most recent in a string of poor defensive games. The Kings are just giving up too many points for the pace they play at to be successful. Coach Joerger can and will improve this defense when given ample practice time. That has not been plentiful this early season, so all we can hope for tonight is a boost in defensive intensity. Hopefully, the Kings come out fired up and a little embarrassed. That leads them to play with a great defensive intensity and the hold the Raptors to under 100 points in tonight’s contest.