No Hero in Sacramento

Alone in a strange city the Raptors get scared...

For 3 quarters the Raptors battled the Kings tough. Of course most NBA games are won or lost in the 4th quarter, so it was no surprise when the home team pushed hard and the Raptors had no answers.

Much of the game stats are the same for both teams…rebounds, steals, turnovers, shooting splits…all almost exactly the same. Except one. Free Throws. The Kings got over twice as many and scored 17 more points…more than the margin of victory. And while it would be nice to blame the refs, the reality is the Raptors are young and smaller so fouling is a way to even up those differences on defense. Gradey with 4, Battle with 4…that’s called growing pains for young guys trying to work hard on defense and learn where the physicality line is with NBA refs. Let’s push past the fouls and get up close and personal here…

The Good

Davion Mitchell

Revenge game against the team he played for last year so no surprise ‘off night’ had himself a good night! 20 point on efficient 8 for 11 shooting really helped the Raptors offense keep humming along early in the game. Only picked up 2 fouls but kept the Kings guards jacking up shots to get their point totals. I liked his 2 for 3 from deep and the shot selectivity while passing the ball a lot.

Sabonis

‘Only’ 17 points but went 6 for 6 in the paint with 13 huge assists to be the sharp end of the Kings attack much of the night. He’s evolving as a Superstar, getting his teammates more involved despite knowing he can get his anytime he wants. This is beautiful to see.

Boucher

Chris went 7-11 all over the Kings from the bench with 17 high value points. With team injuries he’s getting a bigger role than expected and delivering with some shooting. Defensively a lot of ‘try’ but not enough stops.

DeRozan

Inefficient night for the mid-range sniper who shot 11 for 21 but got his 27 points. The Raptors better perimeter defenders annoyed him all night, but didn’t stop him. His value as another bucket getter on the Kings team is without question.

Murray

Keegan scored 22 with picking up 12 rebounds showing off his defensive chops beside his more high flying partner. I’m not sold on the fit between them but they sure are trying hard to make it work.

Fox

De’aaron got a rough ride from former friend Davion and shot 5 for 17 but got a lot of offensive rebounds as he attacked relentlessly and stirred up the Raptors enough to shake some points loose.

Barrett

RJ was good and scored 23 but he wasn’t the Superhero he’d been lately! In the deciding 4th quarter he missed some shots, turned the ball over and got blocked. Some nights just don’t go your way and a lot of good work early faded when the game was on the line.

The Bad

Dick

Played like one tonight…0 for 5 shooting from deep, -22 and only 7 points. Apparently he reads all the Hype on social media and started believing it instead of working on it. Yet another growing pain in the development journey of a future NBA human highlight.

Huerter

Everytime I watch the Kings I see Kevin as the weakest link. I get he’s a developing story but I don’t know how much longer he can hold onto that excuse. The Kings are in win now mode. Sure he didn’t look terrible, even only a little weak, but there is a lot of production this team could get from that starters spot if they could find a better piece.

Shout Out

Alex Len swatted 4 big blocks against a team he certainly remembers dumping him in a hurry during the tank year to get Scottie Barnes. Still grinding out NBA years so he clearly got the last laugh in that situation.

Summary

The Raptors need to lose to get a high draft pick and they succeeded. The Kings need to win and fit all their pieces together better and they succeeded. So Win-Win night in the NBA!

After a long stretch of Raptor bench players outperforming they’ve largely returned to Earth now. The lack of Scottie and Quickley continues to rock the Raptors who could be winning a few more games and be 4-5 if fully healthy. Of course most teams can say something similar by the end of the year so blaming health isn’t the excuse you want to go with. Ja’Kobe only got 8 minutes and on a 2-6 team starting this game in a clear development year I would have expected Darko to get him out there and learning some NBA lessons. The Raptors were battling nicely up to that 4th quarter so I get the decision but I don’t like it. Mogbo is another guy I’d like to see out there working hard and on the learning fast track.

I know the Kings are good and adding DeMar this Summer was a great move. However I’m trying to determine if they are serious Championship contenders…and while I love Domantas feeding his friends I just don’t see enough. Fox and Murray haven’t taken that leap in my eyes. They are great players but in the playoffs when everything tightens up I just don’t see them getting must have buckets on their own. At this point I just don’t know if either of them have the physical attributes to really start dominating in their positions in the NBA. Can Demar be that guy come playoffs time? Good question. There will be some more ‘big’ games this year against Cali rivals so we’ll get better info then. Until proven under difficult situations this team is just a really good regular season team.