The Toronto Raptors are fresh off one of their best performances of the season, a 145-127 win against the Golden State Warriors – despite being down four rotation players – in which Immanuel Quickley dropped a career-high 40 points and 10 assists.
Now, they’ll be shorthanded and on short rest as they take on the Sacramento Kings, who are 14th in the Western Conference and, like the Raptors, on the second night of a back-to-back.
The Kings, led by a 2018 All-Star team of Zach LaVine, Russell Westbrook
and DeMar DeRozan, had shown some signs of life earlier in January despite an injury to Domantas Sabonis, winning four consecutive games – the first three of which came against the Rockets, Lakers and Knicks. But the 12-32 Kings have come back down to earth with consecutive losses.
The game is scheduled for 10 p.m. ET on TSN.
Here are some storylines to follow.
A new start(ing lineup)
Thanks to a flurry of injuries, and aided by the team’s deep roster, head coach Darko Rajakovic has started a different five-man lineup in eight consecutive games. Last night’s new unit included Gradey Dick, who was making his first start of the season. Unlike the Warriors, Sacramento has a fair bit of size; All-Star center Sabonis is back, though he’s played on a minutes restriction off the bench since returning. 7-foot-1 rookie Maxime Raynaud has started in his place. The Raptors went super small against Golden State, starting Quickley, Jamal Shead and Dick together, alongside Brandon Ingram and Scottie Barnes. They may opt for a bigger lineup tonight – but with Jakob Poeltl still out, and Collin Murray-Boyles likely out with his thumb injury, it’s slim pickings.
Former Raptor report
The Sacramento Kings are bad in many respects. But there’s one advanced statistic according to which they are a top team in the NBA: Rate of Any Player That were Openly Raptors (RAPTOR). The main driver of their high RAPTOR rating is DeMar DeRozan, the 36-year-old who is Toronto’s all-time leading scorer and co-built the We the North era with Kyle Lowry. DeRozan’s numbers are down a bit this year, though his efficiency is up: He’s average 19 points, 3.3 rebounds and four assists on 50.8% shooting and a 35.9% clip from three. Meanwhile, former Raptor Precious Achiuwa has been starting for the Kings, and is averaging 7.6 points and 5.5 boards, while Dennis Schröder is averaging 12.7 points and 5.6 assists off the bench. The Raptors’ “Former Kings report” includes Garrett Temple, who played in Sacramento on a 10-day contract in 2010.
Worth a shot?
Thanks to some paltry shooting efforts, the Raptors have found themselves stymied by zone defenses as of late, leading to somewhat of a roster construction crisis (though things would certainly look a bit different with Walter and Barrett healthy). That crisis seemed like a distant memory last night, when the Raptors shot 21/34 from behind the arc. Will their shooting juice continue on the second night of a back-to-back? Will tired legs prevail? And, importantly, will Kings coach Doug Christie dare the Raptors to find out by running a zone defense?
