The Toronto Raptors won their sixth straight game on Sunday in a chippy 102-87 affair versus the Sacramento Kings that felt a little bit closer than the final score would indicate.
During Dwane Casey’s 500th game as Raptors head coach, his team got stellar performances from DeMar DeRozan, who continued to impress as a playmaker, and Kyle Lowry, who overcame a poor shooting night to exploit the Kings’ young backcourt, as well as the continued impressive play from Toronto’s core of promising prospects.
Here are some takeaways from Sunday’s action:
Big nights from Lowry, DeRozan, too much for Kings to overcome
Despite a 17-2 Raptors run to start the game being whittled to just a five-point lead by the end of the first quarter, the result never really seemed in question.
The Kings were scrappy and shot the ball well (48 per cent from the field and 43.5 per cent from deep). They kept Sunday’s game within reach and flirted with multiple comeback attempts, but the disparity in talent and depth was simply too great to overcome.
I love watching him play as much as just about any player in the game, but let’s be honest: If 36-year-old Zach Randolph is your go-to guy then you shouldn’t have a real shot at beating a team led by DeRozan and Lowry in their primes. And Sacramento didn’t, really.
The Raptors’ all-star backcourt played like it on Sunday, combining for 40 points, 15 rebounds, and 15 assists.
After hitting eight twice during the Raps’ win streak, DeRozan dished a season-high nine assists in this one while also leading his team with 25 points on a tidy 9-of-15 from the floor (he also got to the foul-line 11 times).
He’s averaged 25.5 points per game over his last five games, but it’s been impossible to ignore how assertive DeRozan has been as a playmaker. Easily his biggest area of growth this season and an aspect of his game that he was challenged to improve in an off-season where the Raptors emphasized the need for better ball movement, DeRozan appears more comfortable than ever using his magnetic force with the ball to attract defenders and then find open teammates. And his team is better off for it.
After Sunday the Raptors are now 13-1 in games where DeRozan hands out five or more assists — that lone loss coming to the Golden State Warriors earlier this season.
(For more on DeRozan’s passing click here).
As for Lowry, his shot was decidedly not falling like it had been recently (4-of-17, including 3-of-12 from deep), but he still managed three daggers from beyond the arc — and more importantly made an impact in just about every other aspect of the game.
He put his body on the line and drew two charges, a category he leads the NBA in. He also handed out six assists and grabbed a team-best 12 rebounds while taking every opportunity he could to take advantage of his matchup versus a pair of rookie point guards in De’Aaron Fox and Frank Mason.
The Kings responded with Randolph, whose workman-like effort and come-at-me-bro confidence (during a 35-point performance in a win in the Kings previous game, cameras caught him telling DeMarcus Cousins that “Where I’m from the bullies get bullied”) seems to have spread to Sacramento’s young roster. Twenty-five-year-old rookie Bogdan Bogdanovic (15 points, four three-pointers) played hard and didn’t back down after initiating a brief shoving match with noted tough guy DeRozan (side note: The video review for this “altercation” took what honestly seemed like six years. No fouls were called. The NBA’s replay system needs to be reconsidered). Other Kings, like 24 year-old JaKarr Sampson, who scored in double figures for the first time this season, played with an edge, too, even if it couldn’t make a difference in the end.
Randolph led the Kings with a team-high 19 points and 11 rebounds, but as DeRozan and Lowry continued to make plays down the stretch Sacramento didn’t have a response.
Sunday’s performance continues a stretch of near-dominant play from the Raptors’ starting backcourt. During their current six-game streak, Lowry is averaging 19 points, eight rebounds, and just over seven assists per game. DeRozan, in addition to the scoring output we’ve come to expect, is averaging seven assists in that span.
Raptors winning at the draft, too
Games like Sunday’s have offered a reminder of how well-positioned the Raptors roster seems these days. Toronto’s bevy of prospects, all stepping up and contributing alongside their veteran teammates amid a winning season, give the team hope for both the present and future, and the stockpile of up-and-comers is almost unfair when compared to the Kings.
Sacramento hasn’t had a winning season in 11 years (ouch), so you’d think it’d at least have its share of intriguing prospects after drafting in the lottery year after year. A model for dysfunctional front offices during much of that span, instead the Kings have had trouble finding players to build around.
Since 2013 the Kings have used first-round picks to draft: Ben McLemore seventh overall), Nik Stauskas (eighth), Willie Cauley-Stein (sixth) and Marquse Chriss (eighth, traded to Phoenix for Skal Labissiere and Bogdanovic), Justin Jackson (15th), and Harry Giles (20th).
In the same span, the Raptors have drafted: Bruno Caboclo (20th), Delon Wright (20th), Jakob Poeltl (ninth), Pascal Siakam (27th), and OG Anunoby (23rd).
The stats for those of this group that played on Sunday — Poeltl, Siakam, and Anunoby — won’t blow anybody away, but they all had their moments. Siakam managed four offensive rebounds on an otherwise off-night, while Anunoby continues to thrive in the starting five.
The best of the group may wind up being Poeltl, who leads the league in effective field-goal percentage (he shot 4-of-5 on Sunday, including his first three-pointer) and is already beginning to take over stretches of games while he’s on the court.
Raptors have been a top-four team in their conference and a perennial playoff team with a conference finals appearance under their belt. And they’ve still managed to draft a handful of legitimately promising, high-potential players who are contributing almost immediately.
It speaks not only to the players talent and drive, but also to how well the Raps have drafted and developed their rookies. Surely the kids have also benefited by the team’s consistent core of Casey, DeRozan, and Lowry, who have established a standard that this young group is living up to.
Throw in Fred VanVleet and Norm Powell, and the Raptors’ embarrassment of riches is even more obvious when facing a team desperate for budding stars like the Kings are.
Casey reaches well-deserved milestone
There have been more than a couple moments during Casey’s tenure where it didn’t seem we’d get here.
Sunday’s game was Casey’s 500th at the helm of the Raptors, and for the franchise’s all-time winningest coach it was fitting that it came in a win.
This past off-season, when president and GM Masai Ujiri was calling for a “culture reset” and imploring his team to modernize its offence after playing a slower, deliberate, and seemingly outdated style, it seemed as though the coach, who had been closely associated with that mode of play, could be on his way out.
But Ujiri gave him the chance to see the change through, and Casey deserves plenty of credit for being able to evolve and adapt like he has this season.
With 278 wins under his belt, Casey has represented the Raptors well on and off the court and along with DeRozan remains a constant throughout the team’s turnaround since he took the head coaching job in 2011.
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