Sacramento Kings edge past Toronto Raptors 98-91 - NBA Recap
After two straight defeats at the hands of Orlando Magic and Philadelphia 76ers earlier this week, Sacramento Kings came back strong on Wednesday night. The Kings collected a confidence boosting win by squeaking past Toronto Raptors 98-91 at the Air Canada
Centre.
This was the Kings first road win of the season and naturally coach Keith Smart was thrilled with it.
"I told our guys when you get a road win it's like winning two because you actually get the win and you get a confidence booster that you know you can play well on the road." Coach Keith Smart
Point guard Tyreke Evans, who has been a consistent scorer so far in this condensed season, starred for the Kings with his season high 29 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists. DeMarcus Cousins had a double-double with 21 points, including 9 of 11 from the charity
stripe, and 19 boards while Isaiah Thomas came off the bench late and drained 20 points.
"I just play with a chip on my shoulder. I'm out here with everybody so I feel I'm just as good as everybody else. When I step on the court, I'm playing to win and doing what I can to get my team to win and I did a pretty good job of that tonight." Isaiah
said
The Raptors starting line-up failed to put up big numbers on the night so they looked to their bench for inspiration, and the reserves rose to meet the challenge.
Reserve Leandro Barbosa led the team with 24 points on 11 for 18 from the floor while Linas Kleiza added 10. Regular starter James Calderon and Demar DeRozan pounded 13 apiece while Andrea Bargnani had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Raptors committed many fouls throughout, allowing as much as 34 free throws to the Kings, which the Kings made good use of (31-34) and that played an important part in the Raptors loss in the end.
First three quarters were highly competitive as neither team was able to gain a significant advantage over their opponents. The third frame in fact ended with the scores tied at 63 all.
Toronto Raptors started the final period with a 4-0 run to gain some leverage, however it was only short lived as Kings replied with a crucial 17-6 run, capped by Thomas’s 3 in the ensuing passage to shift the tempo to Sacramento’s side, making it 80-73.
Kings strengthened their defence to maintain the lead after that and used flurry of free throws in the last two minutes to win the game by 7 points.
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