National Basketball Association
Sacramento 96, Toronto 91
When: 6:00 PM ET, Sunday, November 6, 2016
Where: Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Ontario
Officials:
#28 Kevin Scott, #31 Scott Wall, #4 Sean Wright
Attendance:
19800
By The Sports Xchange
TORONTO -- Rudy Gay nearly did not play Sunday.
He suffered a rib-cartilage strain against the Orlando Magic Thursday and missed the game against the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday. But after taking some shots before game Sunday, Gay played and the Sacramento Kings are glad he did.
Gay scored 23 points, including two free throws with 1:54 left in the game, and Sacramento ended a four-game losing streak with a 96-91 victory over the Toronto Raptors.
"I didn't know until after I shot," Gay said. "I shot before the game. I didn't think I was going to play on the bus and I ended up playing. I'm glad I did.
"Actually when you have injuries like that, you have to get the first bump out of the way and after that you know what to expect. It was one of those things where there's nothing you can do about it, you might as well play through it."
DeMarcus Cousins added 22 points and 14 rebounds for the Kings, who won the final game of their five-game road trip and ended Toronto's three-game winning streak.
Kosta Koufos added 13 points and Arron Afflalo had 12 for Sacramento.
"I'm really proud of our guys getting the win on a back-to-back, our third back-to-back of the season already," Kings coach Dave Joerger said. "We played a team that was waiting for us and that is a very, very good team that I have a lot of respect for. ... For them to shoot 35 percent (35.7 on 30-for-84 shooting), our mindset is just to keep coming after them."
After Toronto's DeMar DeRozan missed two free throws with 2:14 to play, Gay made two free throws and the Kings led 92-88. Ty Lawson added two free throws to give the Kings a six-point lead with 26.6 seconds left.
Gay made one of two free throws with 17.8 seconds left before Kyle Lowry hit a 3-pointer for Toronto with 12 seconds to get the Raptors within four.
DeRozan had 23 points to end his streak of 30 or more at five games. Lowry added 15 points and 10 assists while Pascal Siakam had 10 for Toronto.
DeRozan was the first player open a season with 30-plus points in five consecutive games to open a season since Michael Jordan in 1986. Jordan extended his streak to six games with 30 or more.
Center Jonas Valanciunas was a late scratch for Toronto because of swollen knee and he is listed as day-to-day.
"We got a lot of great shots at the end of the game that we missed," DeRozan said. "I missed two free throws. Norm (Powell) had two wide-open 3s that would have given us big momentum. It was one of those games that we are going to be able to look at and learn a lot from going forward. We didn't have JV (Valanciunas) so it was a little bit of an adjustment overall."
Toronto opened a 10-point first-quarter lead but needed a fadeaway jumper by Cory Joseph just before the buzzer to take a 23-20 lead.
The Raptors scored the first seven points of the second quarter to regain their 10-point edge and were up by as many as 11 in the quarter. They settled for a 50-44 lead at halftime after Joseph's 3-pointer beat the buzzer.
"We were out of it the entire night offensively," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. "We were off rhythm. They did a good job of sending bodies off of our young guys and onto DeMar, Kyle and our shooters."
Cousins made a reverse dunk for the Kings to tie the game at 64 with 1:55 left in the third. Gay gave Sacramento a two-point lead with a reverse layup.
Joseph tied the game when he made two free throws but Kings forward Matt Barnes made two free throws with 9.7 seconds left and Sacramento took a 68-66 lead after three quarters.
Lucas Nogueira tied the game with a fast-break dunk to open the fourth quarter before Sacramento went up by four. The Raptors regained the lead at 73-72 when Lowry made a layup after a steal and added the free throw.
Cousins made one of two free throws with 6:12 to play to tie the game at 79. Gay hit a 3-pointer with 5:22 to play to give Sacramento an 84-81 lead. Lowry's 3-pointer cut the lead to 87-86 with 4:28 left and DeRozan gave Toronto a one-point lead with a 15-foot turnaround jumper.
Barnes made one of two free throws to tie the game Cousins gave Sacramento the lead with 2:55 left on a driving layup.
"Much needed," Cousins said of the win. "It was a confidence boost and a momentum boost. I thought we came out and did it the right way."
NOTES: Kings F Anthony Tolliver (right knee contusion) did not play. Kings F Rudy Gay (strained rib cartilage), who sat out Saturday in Milwaukee, started in Toronto. Tolliver missed his third straight game. ... Sacramento swept the two-game season series with Toronto last season. The teams meet for the second time this season on Nov. 20 in Sacramento. ...The Raptors have won at least four of their first five games for three consecutive seasons, including a 5-0 start in 2015-16, and are 13-2 in that stretch. ... The Raptors play their next game on Wednesday against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Chesapeake Energy Arena. ... The Kings ended a five-game road trip Sunday and return home to play the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday at Golden 1 Center. ... Raptors C Jonas Valanciunas (left knee contusion) was a late scratch Sunday.
Top Game Performances
Sacramento |
|
Toronto |
Rudy Gay 23 |
Scoring |
DeMar DeRozan 23 |
Ty Lawson 11 |
Assists |
Kyle Lowry 10 |
DeMarcus Cousins 14 |
Rebounds |
Patrick Patterson 9 |
DeMarcus Cousins 8 |
Free Throws Made |
DeMar DeRozan 8 |
Matt Barnes 1 |
Steals |
Kyle Lowry 2 |
DeMarcus Cousins 3 |
Blocks |
Patrick Patterson 2 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Sacramento
|
96 |
43.6 |
5-16 |
23-31 |
21 |
47 |
5 |
4 |
11 |
Toronto
|
91 |
35.7 |
7-30 |
24-31 |
22 |
43 |
5 |
6 |
6 |
Upcoming Games
-
Toronto will play their next game on the road against Oklahoma City. The Raptors have a W/L % of .500 after a win and 1.000 after a loss.
-
Sacramento will play their next game at home against New Orleans. The Kings have a W/L % of .000 after a win and .500 after a loss.